Obamba Voter Turnout Killed Gay Marriage in California

File this in the Irony Department under the title "you can't have your cake and eat and eat it too." The candidacy of Barack Obama, brought out tons of extra Black and Latino voters. Those voters are more traditional. Based on the exit polls, these voters provided the margin to put through the ban against gay marriage. More below:

Exit poll: Black voters back Calif. marriage ban By MARCUS WOHLSEN,

California's black and Latino voters, who turned out in droves for Barack Obama, provided key support for a state ban on same-sex marriage. Christian, married and older voters also helped give the measure the winning edge, according to exit polls for The Associated Press.

Proposition 8 overturns a May California Supreme Court decision legalizing gay nuptials and rewrites the state constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Exit poll data showed seven in 10 black voters and more than half of Latino voters backed the ballot initiative, while whites and Asians were split.

Though blacks and Latinos combined make up less than one-third of California's electorate, their opposition to same-sex marriage appeared to tip the balance. Both groups decisively backed Obama regardless of their position on the initiative.

Obama has said he is not in favor of gay marriage but supports civil unions. The president-elect opposed Proposition 8.

Religious voters also were decisive in getting Proposition 8 passed. Of the seven in 10 voters who described themselves as Christian, two-thirds backed the initiative. Ninety percent of voters who said they had no religious affiliation opposed the measure, but they were a much smaller portion of the electorate.

Denise Fernandez, a 57-year-old African-American from Sacramento, said she voted for Obama but felt especially compelled to cast a ballot this year to support Proposition 8.

"I came out because of my religious beliefs. I believe a Christian is held accountable, and we have to make a difference," Fernandez said.

Religious voters were nearly as strong in their support for a measure that would have required doctors to notify parents before performing an abortion on a minor. Black voters were split on Proposition 4, however, and white voters came down decisively against the measure. It was defeated 52.1 percent to 47.9 percent.

Much of the advertising for Proposition 8 focused on same-sex marriage's ostensible effects on children, including the hotly disputed contention that young children would be taught about same-sex marriage in schools.

Nearly two-thirds of voters who had children under 18 living in their household backed the ban, while those without children were more narrowly opposed. Six in 10 married voters supported Proposition 8, while an equal number of unmarried voters voted against it.

Darryl Scott, a 46-year-old father from Patterson, voted for Obama and yes on Proposition 8. Scott said he has no hatred for gays but was raised to believe marriage is between a man and woman.

"People should do what they want to do, but it shouldn't be forced on others," said Scott, who is black.

The most pronounced divide over the same-sex marriage ban was between the state's youngest and oldest voters. Six in 10 voters under 30 were against the measure, and an equal number 65 and over were for it. Voters 30 to 64 made up most of the electorate and tilted slightly in favor of the ban.

Exit poll results also highlighted geographic splits in sentiment. In California's suburbs, where half the electorate lives, sixty percent of voters supported Proposition 8. City dwellers opposed the measure by a slightly smaller margin overall, though voters in Los Angeles were evenly divided.

More than half of voters in the largely conservative cities and suburbs south and east of Los Angeles backed the ban, as did about two-thirds of Central Valley voters.

About two-thirds of voters in the San Francisco Bay area and along the Northern California coast cast ballots against the measure.

The survey of 2,240 California voters was conducted for AP by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. Most were interviewed in a random sample of 30 precincts statewide Tuesday; 765 who voted early or absentee were interviewed by landline telephone over the last week. Results for the full sample were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, higher for subgroups.