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Saturday, February 14, 2009

New Survey Finds Partnership Support

By Dan Boyd
Journal Capitol Bureau
          SANTA FE — Two key Democratic opponents of a proposal to recognize domestic partnerships said Friday that they're not swayed by a survey that found a majority of voters in their districts support the legislation.
        The domestic partnerships bill, SB 12, would grant the same benefits married couples enjoy in New Mexico to unmarried couples, homosexual and heterosexual, who file an application and pay a minimal fee.
        The measure stalled earlier this month in the Senate Judiciary Committee after Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Española, joined four Republicans in voting against the bill. Another Democrat on the committee, Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, D-Albuquerque, missed the vote but later said she would have opposed the measure.
        Martinez and Sanchez have said they are responding to the wishes of constituents. But the survey results indicate that a majority of voters in each district would support the proposed legislation.
        The survey was commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union, which supports domestic partnerships. It polled over 400 registered voters in each legislative district — 405 in a northern New Mexico district represented by Martinez and 401 in a Bernalillo County District represented by Sanchez — between Feb. 6 and Feb. 8.
        The survey, which has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points, was conducted by Research and Polling Inc. of Albuquerque.
        The chief question was, "A state law has been proposed that would allow two adults, regardless of their gender, to become domestic partners. It would give them the same legal rights and protections as a married couple. This would include the right to make medical decisions for each, to be next of kin if one them died and receive similar health and financial protections that married couples now get."
        In each district, more than 60 percent of the registered voters interviewed said they either strongly or somewhat supported that proposal.
        Asked Friday by the Journal what effect the survey might have on his position, Martinez said, "None whatsoever."
        "The questions were asked so they could get the answers they wanted," Martinez said. "It doesn't change my mind in any way."
        Sanchez also said the survey didn't change her thinking, but she declined to elaborate, saying "I'm through talking about this bill."
        The New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops is among opponents of the legislation, saying the church wants to preserve "marriage as we know it."
        Brian Sanderoff, president of Research & Polling Inc., said the survey contained an accurate cross section of each district's demographic makeup.
        "I am not doubting that these legislators have received tons of calls, and most of them might be opposed to domestic partnerships," Sanderoff said. "But that doesn't mean it was representative of their districts."
       

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