Brown Poll: Most support gay marriage, Taveras & Raimondo remain popular

Dee DeQuattro

ddequattro@abc6.com

A new Brown University
Poll shows that the majority of Rhode Islanders support same sex marriage and highlights who's popular on the RI political scene.

The poll revealed that 60.4% of Rhode Islanders support
extending marriage rights to include same-sexed couples. Almost half of those who
supported same-sex marriage said it is an equal rights issue while 27.7% said they
support it because it personal choice.

Of those who opposed same sex marriage almost 60% said they
were strongly opposed and the majority cited religious beliefs as the main
reason.

The poll also shows that younger people are more supportive
of gay rights than older people with only 34% of those over 70 supporting gay
marriage, and 77% of those under 30 supporting it.

Meanwhile, Rhode Islanders are still skeptical about the
state of the Rhode Island
economy and do not believe that RI's leaders will make the right decisions for
the state's future. 87% said they thin the state's economy is not so good or
poor. On the bright side 56% said they think their own finances are in good or
excellent shape.

Likely gubernatorial candidate, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras still remains extremely popular
with 63.7% approval and his likely democratic opponent, General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, also enjoys high popularity with a
56% approval.

Independent Governor
Lincoln Chafee is not so popular with a 25% approval rating. Congressman David Cicilline still
continues to have low approval ratings at 27% despite his recent re-election. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse who was also
recently re-elected has a strong support base of 43.7% and his Senate
counter-part Jack Reed who is up fro re-election in 2014 is very popular with
at 54% approval rating.

The poll, conducted by the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University, surveyed 593 Rhode Island between
Feb. 21-23, the margin of error was plus or minus 4%.