Oct 24, 2008  |  By: CHRIS JOHNSON  | COMMENTS     

the television spotlight.

“Obviously, seeing us in these loving, caring relationships did not turn people off,” she said. “If you make us the bogeyman in the closet so you’re never quite sure, then you really don’t know who you’re voting against.”

A survey published Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California found that the amendment is losing among likely voters, with 52 percent opposing the measure and 44 percent supporting it.

For the survey, 2,004 California adults were interviewed, including 1,186 who were considered likely voters.

The survey also found that California voters are about evenly split on their feelings in general about same-sex marriage, with 47 percent in favor of gay nuptials and 49 percent opposing them.

But a Oct. 17 poll by SurveyUSA found Proposition 8 leading among California residents, 48-45. The poll’s authors noted that the measure’s three-point lead is within the margin of error and the findings should be interpreted as a statistical tie.

To generate its data, SurveyUSA interviewed 800 California adults. Of those adults, 710 were registered to vote and 614 were believed to be likely voters.

Organizers of the “No on 8” campaign held a conference call with reporters earlier this month to sound the alarm on growing support for the measure, attributing it to ads from “Yes on 8” claiming that the failure of Proposition 8 would mean that children would have to learn about same-sex marriage in school.

The “No on 8” campaign called for increased additional donations to help defeat the initiative.

Supporters of gay nuptials in California responded by donating up to $1 million a day to the campaign, according to “No on 8” organizers. In the weeks following the call, “No on 8” aired ads featuring Ellen DeGeneres, newspapers’ and labor organizations’ pronouncements