46% of Miss. Republicans Oppose Interracial Marriage

Gay marriage might be controversial, but apparently, Mississippi Republicans aren’t quite used to the idea of interracial marriage yet. In a new Public Policy Polling survey, 46% of Mississippi Republicans said they thought interracial marriage should be illegal, Raw Story reports. A mere 40% said it should remain legal, with the rest undecided.

The same poll, perhaps unsurprisingly, found that Haley Barbour has a commanding lead over the prospective Republican primary field in his home state with 37% of the vote, well ahead of Mike Huckabee’s 19%, Newt Gingrich’s 10% and Sarah Palin’s 6%. There was no clear correlation between respondents’ views on interracial marriage and which candidate they favored. (More Mississippi stories.)