An Ecological Examination of North Carolina's Amendment One Vote to Ban Same Sex Marriage

Abstract

On May 8th, 2012, North Carolina voters passed a constitutional amendment that officially banned same sex marriage. Whereas statewide the amendment was supported by 61% of North Carolina voters, there was a 67% range in variance of support for the amendment among North Carolina counties. This paper examines the large variance regarding the state amendment vote, among North Carolina's 100 counties. Controlling for percent of county residents with a bachelor’s or greater degree had an enormous effect in diminished support for the amendment while age, race and urban demographics were weaker and capricious measures in understanding the county variance of the Amendment One vote.

Keywords

• human ecology
• same sex marriage
• north carolina
• gay rights