From the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy this morning:

A Gallup poll released this morning shows that two-thirds of Republicans support a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as being only between a man and a woman. The poll also found that a solid majority of all Americans (58%) are opposed to granting such same-sex marriages the same legal rights as traditional marriages. (See Gallup News Service article posted today below.) The findings show that Senator John McCain, who announced that he would not support the Marriage Protection Amendment yesterday on Fox News Sunday, is out of touch with the rank and file of the Republican party. The amendment would define marriage in the U.S. as existing only between a man and a woman and will be voted on by the Senate the week of June 5th. Meanwhile, marriage expert Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy (and syndicated columnists) responds to McCain’s support for letting the same-sex marriage issue be decided by the states this way: “Leave marriage to the states? Most Americans would be only too delighted if courts would do that. But right now courts have imposed gay marriage on one state (Massachusetts) and threaten to do so in at least 6 others. Judges have already struck down state marriage amendments in two states (Georgia and Nebraska),” says Gallagher. “John McCain’s vote against a Marriage Protection Amendment doesn’t leave the issue to the states, it leaves it in the hands of judges who think Americans’ support of marriage is due to malice or bigotry,” Gallagher adds. In just the past 20 months, voters in 15 states have passed amendments by overwhelming numbers, bringing the total number of states defining marriage in their constitutions to 19.