Wording changes had dramatic effects in polls on gay marriage.
Two polls by the conservative Civitas Institute that used much different wording than a recent Elon University Poll survey which found much higher support for a state constitutional ban on gay marriage.
In May of 2008, Civitas asked if people would support an amendment "defining marriage as between one man and one woman."
Seventy-one percent supported, 26 percent opposed and three percent were unsure.
Then, in February, the group asked the same question, prefacing it by noting that "North Carolina is the only state in the Southeast that does not have a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman."
Seventy-six percent supported, 21 percent opposed and four percent were unsure.
That's rougly 30 percentage points more support than in Elon's poll, which asked if voters would support an amendment that would "prevent any same-sex marriages."
In all of the polls, around 20 percent are consistently in favor of gay marriage rights.
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