A poll released yesterday by Strategies 360—a Democratic consulting firm that some school district watchers have some reservations about—reports that voters in Washington State would reelect President Obama but pick Republican Rob McKenna as the state's next governor. Jim Brunner has the story:

More than a year out from the 2012 election, the poll shows Obama beating Perry, the Texas governor, 51-37. Against Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, Obama is up 49-40. [...]

In the state's closely watched gubernatorial race, Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna picks up 46 percent support in the poll, to Democratic U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee's 39 percent.

Talking to The Stranger this morning, Jaime Smith, a spokeswoman for Jay Inslee's 2012 gubernatorial campaign, frames the poll like this: "It's all name recognition and name ID, so we're not surprised." Among voters who knew both candidates, she notes, Inslee was actually up by one point. Okay, but I'm not sure how valuable that nugget of information is—the folks who know Inslee are largely moderate-to-liberals in western Washington, not quite representative of the whole state electorate that's elected McKenna twice before.

Meanwhile, 44 percent said the state's $1.4 billion budget shortfall should be shored up "equally with spending cuts and tax increases." Only 11 percent preferred using mostly or all tax increases.

And now... to the divisive social issues!

· A majority express support for gay marriage, with 54 percent saying it should be legalized and 35 percent opposed (12 percent were undecided or declined to answer). Democrats in the Legislature are considering a push in the next session to legalize gay marriage.

· Voters are evenly divided on legalization of marijuana, with 46 percent in favor and 46 percent against. However, 70 percent support taxing the legal sale of medical marijuana.

An important caveat: All of these votes—even a revenue measure to close the budget gap—wouldn't be on our plate until next year. So polling now is far from a crystal ball. That said, GAY MARRIAGE! PASS IT NEXT YEAR, LET FUNDYRIGHTWINGNUTJOBS PUT IN ON THE BALLOT, AND THEN VOTE! MAYBE IT WINS AND MAYBE NOT—BUT THERE'S NO BETTER YEAR, NO MORE PROGRESSIVE AND DIVERSE AN ELECTORATE THAN IN 2012. Ahem.