Karl Rove can read polls

By Richard K. Barry

Whatever else may be true of Karl Rove, he generally knows which way the wind is blowing. When the Fox News contributor and former Bush deputy chief of staff was asked if he could imagine a future Republican presidential candidate supporting gay marriage, he answered in the affirmative. 

Rove was asked on "This Week" this past Sunday if he could "imagine the next presidential campaign, a Republican candidate saying flat out I am for gay marriage?” He responded “I could.”

Rove's comments come just a few days after Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman announced that he had changed his position and now supports gay marriage.

While it is true that no other Republican Senator agrees with Portman, and few GOP members of the House do, the American public is rapidly coming on side with the idea. In recent polling, public support for gay marriage hit an all-time high, according to a new Washington Post-ABC survey. 

The poll showed that 58 percent of Americans now believe it should be legal for gay and lesbian couples to get married; 36 percent say it should be illegal. Public attitudes toward gay marriage are a mirror image of what they were a decade ago: in 2003, 37 percent favored gay nuptials, and 55 percent opposed them.

Yes, Karl Rove can read polls.