Watch for additional Salt Lake Tribune poll results on issues in the news

The Salt Lake Tribune has a new pollster and some results of our first SurveyUSA poll are available at sltrib.com and in Tuesday's print edition.

The results show Utahns are evenly split on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to obtain marriage licenses in the state, a finding that when combined with other poll outcomes demonstrates a dramatic shift in attitudes in the past 10 years toward same-sex relationships.

The Tribune polls regularly as a way to add context and perspective to stories in the news. Poll results also help us evaluate whether our own coverage of issues has been balanced and fair.

In our new poll, Clifton, N.J.-based SurveyUSA conducted a recorded telephone survey of 600 randomly selected Utahns across the state from Friday through Monday.

Both cell phones and land-line phones were included in the poll, which depending on the question, had margins or error ranging from 3.7 to 5.3 percent.

In all, poll participants were asked 20 questions.

In coming days, you'll see stories reflecting poll results on a number of issues important to Utahns including:

* Whether Utah should have a state law prohibiting housing and employments discrimination of members of the lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual community

* Whether the Utah House should have spent $3 million to investigate alleged wrongdoing by former Utah Attorney General John Swallow and whether that probe should continue now that Swallow has resigned

* Whether Utahns support various possible legislative remedies that may result from investigations into Swallow

* Whether marijuana should be legal for medicinal uses in Utah

Once we publish all the poll results, SurveyUSA, with The Tribune's go-ahead, will make the entire poll available at its website, www.surveyusa.com.

Thanks to those of you who participated in the poll, and who agree to be interviewed afterward.

We think you'll find the results interesting.