President Barack Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage in an interview with ABC news on Wednesday, May 9.

“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together … at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama said to Robin Roberts on the show.

Sophomore Sheridan Mangold said the announcement will affect her vote in the 2012 general election.

“I don’t personally agree with gay marriage,” she said. “Now people who were more toward voting for him might change their views.”

Senior Tom Cardaro said he thinks it’s good that the president stuck with what he truly believes, rather than being persuaded by polls.

“As someone who supports gay marriage, I think he made the right decision,” he said. “As much as people who are against his views, people don’t want someone who keeps flip-flopping. Two people are entitled to marry whoever they want.”

Hours before the announcement aired, Republican candidate Mitt Romney restated his opposition to same-sex marriage.

“When these issues were raised in my state of Massachusetts, I indicated my view, which is I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name,” Romney said in a New York Times article.

Obama’s statement comes one day after North Carolina passed a constitutional amendment that acknowledges the only legal union recognized in that state would be one between a man and a woman.