In May 2008, the California Supreme Court decided to overturn a 1997 law and a 2000 ballot initiative, both banning same-sex marriages, due to the fact that they violated the state’s Constitution in terms of marriage rights.

Consequently, California Attorney General Jerry Brown rewrote Proposition 8, the ballot that prohibited gay marriages, using language that clearly reflected the new defined status of the law.

In July, the Field Poll revealed that the constitutional amendment was supported by 42% of the surveyed people, while 51% of them stated that they would vote no on the proposition. The other 7% said they were undecided.

Presently, results of the same poll show that only 38% of the likely voters are in favor of the ban on gay marriages. The decrease is said to have been triggered by the language Brown used in his revision of the law, the Democrat replacing a rather mild word like „limit” (when referring to what the ballot entails in terms of same-sex marriages) with one that leaves no room for interpretation-„eliminate,” that is. Field Poll Director Mark DiCamill stated that bluntly telling people that a right is to be taken away from them was most likely the cause of their reluctance to vote yes on the matter.

The poll was based on the telephone surveys of 830 people, which were done over a period of nine days, between September 5 and 14.

It also revealed that while Protestants supported the ban, the majority of Catholics said they opposed the measure.