SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – If given another say on same-sex marriage, California’s electorate would be just as divided today as it was in November when a same-sex marriage ban passed with 52 percent of the vote, according to a poll released March 11.

The Field Poll of 761 registered voters found that 48 percent of those surveyed would support a new ballot initiative repealing Proposition 8, the same percentage that voted against it four months ago.

The poll had 47 percent of respondents in favor of keeping the ban in place. The remaining 5 percent were undecided, but previous surveys have tended to understate opposition to making same-sex marriage legal.

“After this court legalized gay marriage, after the marriages occurred, after the campaign and after all the marches and protests, they haven’t moved the needle a bit, and that is very encouraging,” said Frank Schubert, who managed the Yes on 8 campaign.

The new numbers could figure into the calculations of gay-rights activists who are considering going back to the ballot box if the California Supreme Court rejects a trio of lawsuits seeking to overturn Proposition 8.

The court has been asked to throw out the November ban on the grounds that it represented such a significant change to the California Constitution that approval from the Legislature or a constitutional convention was needed to qualify it as an initiative. A ruling is due by June 3.

“We certainly don’t want to prejudge the judges,” said Marc Solomon, marriage director of the gay-rights group Equality California. “If we don’t prevail, we’re committed to seeing the right of same-sex couples to marry restored. We are really evaluating, analyzing when that would be.”

The Field Poll found political ideology, religion and age to be strong indicators of how voters viewed the prospect of repealing Proposition 8 during the 2010 general election.

Voters over the age of 65 along with those who did not personally know any gay people, described themselves as politically conservative or identified as Protestant or Catholic were the most strongly opposed.

Marital status also influenced voters’ views on another ballot question dealing with same-sex marriage. Half of married voters opposed extending marriage rights to same-sex couples, compared with 45 percent of separated or divorced voters and 35 percent of voters who had always been single.