Why Perry's Anti-Gay Ad Will Fail

The short answer is, Iowa Republican voters aren't obsessed with gays.  They're much more concerned about the economy.  This week's Washington Post/New York Times poll of likely Iowa GOP caucus goers found that 40% ranked the economy and jobs as their number one concern.  Coming in a distant second was the budget deficit at 21%.  Everything else was in single digits including social issues at 9%. 

When asked what matters most in choosing a candidate to vote for, 71% said the candidate's views on the economy and 14% said social issues. 

Then there was this nugget, buried deep in the polling data and virtually ignored by the mainstream press:

"Which comes closer to your view?  Gay couples should be allowed to legally marry OR gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not legally marry OR there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship?"

22% chose full marriage equality, 36% chose civil unions, 38% chose no legal recognition, and 3% had no answer.  That means that means that fully 58% of likely Republican caucus goers support legal recognition of our relationships.  These are Republicans who are committed enough to their party to go out on a freezing winter night and stand around a high school gym for hours to caucus.  If we've got these people on our side, we have clearly won the war.