After the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, many Republican 2016 candidates tacked to the right, vowing to fight for religious freedom next.
Everyone from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee promised social conservatives they'd use their increasingly limited means to prevent religiously conservative government employees from being forced to issue same-sex marriage licenses, or to grant protections for religiously conservative wedding photographers from having to shoot a same-sex wedding.
Let them fight over those folks, says Chris Christie. And he might be onto something.
At a New Hampshire town hall Wednesday night, the New Jersey Republican governor and latest presidential candidate broke with social conservatives by saying he'll enforce the court's decision instead of trying to fight against it. From Time Magazine's Zeke Miller:
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"I think for folks who are in the government world, they kind of have to do their job, whether you agree with the law or you don’t,” [Christie] told reporters ... noting there are laws that he enforces as governor that he disagrees with."
And if you think about it, that could be a good move for Christie. Young Republicans overwhelmingly favor gay marriage (61 percent, according to a March Pew Research Center poll), and Republicans' support has been climbing steadily, from 19 percent in 2004, to 34 percent in June 2015, when Pew asked about same-sex marriage again. When you expand the field to Republican-leaning voters, a full 41 percent support same-sex marriage, according to the same poll.
We're not mathematicians here, but those numbers of Republicans supporting gay marriage are statistically equal to or higher than the 32 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters who told Pew they strongly oppose same-sex marriage. In other words, there are several GOP candidates fighting over a shrinking portion of the gay marriage pie. And Christie, who was never going to appeal to the most ardent gay marriage opponents anyway, can try to appeal to the rest.
Christie is not fully embracing Supreme Court's decision, nor even supporting it. But in saying he'll enforce the law instead of join the crowded field of Republicans trying to push against it, the numbers show he could have a lot to gain. What's more, it's likely that soon he'll be joined by many other Republicans in taking that position.
The absolutely stunning rise in support for gay marriage, in 1 chart
Why conservatives gave up fighting gay marriage
The Supreme Court just did Republicans a huge favor on gay marriage
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