The Public Policy Institute of California recently conducted a poll of California voters on a battery of issues (warning: pdf) and the results suggest that Californians are overwhelmingly prepared to reject Proposition 8, a proposed amendment to the California constitution that would prohibit same-sex marriage. By a margin of 54% to 40% California voters oppose the measure:

Proposition 8, which would amend the state constitution to eliminate same-sex marriage, is favored by 40 percent and opposed by 54 percent of the state's likely voters. Democratic (66%) and independent likely voters (59%) are against it, and Republican likely voters are in favor (60%). The last time voters decided this issue--in 2000--they approved a ban on same-sex marriages by a wide margin (61% yes, 39% no).

This is yet another step, but an important step, in debunking the most hysterical right-wing claims about gay marriage. As Americans witness that same-sex marriages has been a good thing for Californians and that Californians support them, they will become increasingly skeptical of the chicken-little doom-dance enthralling so many anti-marriage advocates. Way to go California.