The Connecticut Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision Friday to legalize same-sex marriage reinserts a topic that brought conservatives to the polls in 2004 back into the political spotlight. The news from the Connecticut court comes on the heels of new polls that show support for California’s ballot measure to oppose same-sex marriage is growing.

The presidential campaign has been focused almost exclusively on the economy over the past month. How will the marriage issue play out come November 4?

In Friday’s marriage ruling, the court overturned a lower court’s decision that civil unions provided the same benefits and rights as marriage. Connecticut joins California and Massachusetts as states that allow same-sex marriage.

But gay Californians may not be allowed to marry much longer. Proposition 8, which if passed would amend the California Constitution to only allow marriage between a man and a woman, is the highest profile ballot initiative in California this election season. The opposing sides have raised more than $41 million total, more than all previous marriage initiatives combined. Prop 8 proponents have approximately $10 million more to spend, and a new television advertising campaign appears to be working. In the most recent poll released by SurveyUSA, 47 percent of respondents supported the measure, while 42 percent opposed it. The previous poll, conducted before the advertising campaign began, showed 49 percent of those surveyed planned to oppose the measure, with 44 percent supporting it.

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