Obama reelection chief: GOP’s 2016 nominee won’t back gay marriage

Jim Messina, the campaign manager of President Obama's successful reelection bid, told Businessweek in an interview published Friday that he does not believe the next Republican nominee will support same-sex marriage.

"Given who their primary electorate is and given the fact that the ABC/Washington Post poll showed that 60 percent of older Republican primary voters still oppose it," Messina told the magazine, "I think you will see people talk less about it. But I don't think they're showing any signs of moderating."

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on a pair of cases examining the constitutional implications of laws restricting same-sex marriages and benefits earlier this week. Gay rights activists are hoping that the court could issue a broad ruling that would legalize same-sex marriage across the country.

A number of legislators, including Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), came out in support of same-sex marriage ahead of the Supreme Court arguments. But Portman, who has a gay son, remains the only Republican in the Senate who backs gay marriage. Other top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), have recently voiced their opposition to allowing gays to wed. The Republican opposition comes despite an apparent shift in national attitudes on the subject. A CBS News poll released earlier this week showed that 53 percent of all Americans believe it should be legal for same-sex couples to wed, although 56 percent of Republicans do not support allowing gay couples to do so. Still, GOP support has risen 13 percentage points since May 2012, when President Obama announced his support of same-sex marriage.

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