California voters overwhelmingly support reproductive rights and, if they were to cast ballots tomorrow, a majority would support same-sex marriage, according to separate polls out today.
But those findings are not nearly as surprising as the one concerning American attitudes toward nude sunbathing.
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First, a
Field Poll conducted on behalf of the Riverside
Press-Enterprise and other media outlets found anywhere from
66 percent to 71 percent of California voters support
the right to an abortion.
Those results have remained steady since Field first began polling on abortion in 1987.
Even a majority of Republicans here are pro-choice, which might concern Carly Fiorina, the Republican nominee to challenge U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in the fall. The Democratic incumbent is a huge abortion-rights advocate, while Fiorina came out against a woman's right to choose.
That was “might concern Fiorina” because of this: the same poll found she enjoys a wide range of support–even among pro-choice voters.
Meanwhile, the poll by the Washington,
D.C.-based nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute, an organization
focused on religion and values, found that if a vote similar to Proposition 8 upholding a ban on same-sex
marriage were held tomorrow, a majority of Californians say they would
cast ballots in favor of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.
One in four Californians reported that their views on rights for gay and
lesbian people had become more supportive over the last five years,
compared with 8 percent who said they had become more opposed, the poll
revealed.
The survey comes as the Golden State awaits a U.S. district court judge's ruling on whether
Prop 8 violates the U.S. Constitution.
Finally, Skyscanner conducted the poll of air travelers that
found more Americans favor females being allowed to go topless than
Italians, French and Scandinavians.
This flies in the face of assumptions that Americans are more prudish than their European counterparts.
However, we still have nothing on the Germans, who proved to be the most relaxed in their attitude. A massive 99 percent of Krauts agreed women should be allowed to go
topless.
Gott segne Dich!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.