One of the things to remember about polling that many people forget is that there is a margin of error. Take, for instance, the latest poll about marriage equality in Maine. The numbers seem HUGE with 55% saying that they support the marriage initiative and 36% saying that they oppose it.

In reality, that survey of 506 likely Maine voters shows that somewhere between 59.4% and 50.6% of voters support the initiative and between 40.4% and 31.6% of likely voters oppose it.

The poll question closely reflected the referendum wording including the exemption for clergy.

The other thing to remember is that 9% of respondents did not answer or refused to answer, so, in the end, there is still a battle to be fought. It is good news, over all, for marriage equality in Maine, but we should just remember that the vote hasn’t happened yet.