LITTLE ROCK — Supporters of a proposed initiated act to ban unmarried couples from adopting or becoming foster parents were encouraged Tuesday by results of the Arkansas Poll.
The annual survey by the University of Arkansas showed a majority of Arkansans, higher than a year ago, believes a law should prevent gay men and lesbians from adopting or serving as foster parents.
Last year, 46 percent said they'd approve of such a law. This year, that grew to 53 percent with a slightly reworded question.
"It appears that public opinion is shifting in the direction of support for legislation," said Jerry Cox, president of the Family Council, the Little Rock organization whose leaders hope to take the issue to voters in 2008.
A spokesman for opponents of the measure said the poll result doesn't mean the voters would approve the Family Council's proposal.
"Framing the issue as a gay issue would get a certain response," said Dr. Eddie Ochoa of Little Rock. "If we frame the issue around children's needs, it will be different."
The proposal would apply to unmarried couples who live together, whether gay or straight.
In addition to the question about adoption and foster parenting, the poll showed overwhelming support for adding the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That's an issue the Legislature has rejected twice in recent years but that will be introduced again when lawmakers gather in regular session in 2009.
State Rep. Lindsley Smith, D-Fayetteville, said she plans to try again and is happy to have the poll results to show her colleagues. The survey showed that 73 percent of respondents favored the idea of adding the amendment to the Constitution after hearing the wording of it.
"I knew they would support equality and fairness and that women should be treated equally under the law," she said.
Smith is trying to get Arkansas to become the 36th state to ratify the amendment in hopes that could restart the ratification process that ended in 1982.
Cox, who helped lobby against state ratification, said the poll response probably wouldn't have been so favorable if respondents heard about what opponents worry would be the ramifications of the amendment.
He said they should have been asked, "Do you believe the Boy Scouts should be destroyed?" He thinks that's a possible unintended consequenceof the amendment.
Smith said that such tactics don't belong in a scientific poll.
"The idea of a poll is to be objective rather than using scare tactics and spin," she said. "Faced with the straightforward wording, rather than things that are not proven ... Arkansans are for this."
Janine Parry, the poll director, has made public her support for adding the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. She said she added the question to the poll this year in part because it will help her scholarly studies on the issue.
"This isn't really on the mind of the average Arkansan anymore, so we wanted to know what happens if we ask a clean, up or down question," Parry said.
Gay parenting and women's rights issues are hot topics among lawmakers at the state Capitol, but they don't show up on the survey when Arkansans are asked about the most important problems facing the state.
Respondents listed the economy as the No. 1 problem, followed in order by education, health care and crime, government issues including taxes, and immigration.
Parry said she's always fascinated by the stability of the top issues, year after year. Education, the economy and health care are almost always in the top three, she said.
The poll also asks about abortion law, whether respondents want to make it more difficult for women to obtain abortions, whether to makeit easier or whether the laws should remain the same.
This year, as in years past, a greater proportion of those who responded to the question wanted to make it more difficult: 41 percent, down from 44 percent in 2006.
Thirteen percent wanted to make it easier to get an abortion, down from 16 percent. Thirty-six percent wanted no change, up from 34 percent in 2006. Nine percent said they didn't know or declined to answer.
For the second year in a row, those who responded to the poll were asked about global warming. The numbers were close to last year's responses, with 57 percent saying they're completely or mostly convinced that global warming is "actually happening."
Parry also added a question about immigration policy, asking respondents a series of questions about what the government should do about " undocumented immigrants" living in the United States.
Parry said the wording of the question, referring to illegal aliens as "undocumented immigrants," came from colleagues in Iowa and Ohio who are studying the same issue. The idea is to be able to compare the answers across all the states with questions that are worded in the exact same manner, she said.
Most respondents, 55 percent, said they'd allow "undocumented immigrants to become U.S. citizens if they meet certain criteria like learning English and pay their back taxes." Twenty-seven percent said they should all be deported.
The largest proportion of respondents, 39 percent, blame "employers who hire undocumented immigrants" for the immigration situation.
UA's Survey Research Center polled 754 randomly selected adult Arkansans by telephone Oct. 7-18. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Information on the poll and a link to the results are available at dailyheadlines.uark.edu/11709.htm.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 10/31/2007