Are contributions to same-sex marriage campaigns a waste of money?

Citizen Input

“Citizen Input” by Dave Glad via MPR’s Flickr pool

The proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage is dominating political talk at the State Fair reports MPR’s Sasha Aslanian. Passion is strong on both sides of the issue, political observers estimate campaign spending could reach and even surpass $10 million before voters cast ballots next year.

You could double that campaign spending and would still be unlikely to sway voters from the position they currently hold on same-sex marriage.

NYU’s Patrick Egan has studied similar measures addressing same-sex marriage in 33 states since 1998 and found that campaigns to change public opinion on the issue are ineffective.

But what’s $10 million today anyway? It’s just a wedding for Kim Kardashian or a grilled cheese for a venture capitalist.