CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – A new survey of Illinois delegates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina this week indicates that President Obama’s support for legalizing same-sex marriage helps his reelection chances. Almost 78 percent of respondents to a Chicago Daily Herald survey said that the president’s announcement this year supporting marriage equality will help him among independent voters. The remainder thinks his position will neither help nor hurt him.

The responses of the 40 Prairie State delegates stands in stark contrast to those of GOP delegates surveyed by the newspaper prior to last week’s Republican National Convention in Tampa. In those answers, 33 percent said that Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s opposition to gay marriage will help him with independent voters. Only 4 percent said that his position will hurt his chances, while 64 percent think it will neither help nor hurt him.

In Illinois, lawmakers have approved civil unions, while a suit seeking to legalize marriage equality is working its way through the state’s courts.