COLUMBUS, Ohio—Proponents of legalizing same-sex marriage in Ohio said Thursday that they’ve collected enough petition signatures to put the issue on the ballot next year.

Advocacy group FreedomOhio co-founder Ian James said at a news conference that his group has already exceeded the 385,247 signatures needed to put the issue on the 2014 ballot. The group said they’ve also met a second requirement to gather signatures from 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties.

James declined to say exactly how many signatures the group has collected so far. But he said FreedomOhio is working to get 1 million signatures by the petition filing deadline in early July.

FreedomOhio also released a new poll they paid for that shows Ohioans are split on the issue of gay marriage, with 47 percent indicating support and 48 percent against. The poll's margin or error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

However, the survey found that 52 percent of Ohioans support FreedomOhio's proposed constitutional amendment legalizing gay marriage in the state. Support increased to 56 percent when the pollster emphasized that the amendment wouldn't require religious institutions to recognize or perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.

James said the poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling on Dec. 6-8, shows that Ohioans are far more amenable to gay marriage than in 2004, when voters approved a constitutional amendment banning such unions.

He offered a number of reasons for the increased support, from the repeal of gays serving in the U.S. military to increased portrayals of gays and lesbians on television. Importantly, he said, the poll found that 85 percent of Ohioans know someone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.

“Ohio is ready for marriage equality,” he said.

Chris Long, president of the Ohio Christian Alliance, said it remains to be seen whether FreedomOhio will have enough valid signatures to put the question to a statewide vote.

Long described as "ridiculous" FreedomOhio's assertions that it is working to get 1 million signatures when the organization couldn't get enough support to hold a referendum on gay marriage this year.

He also noted that gay rights groups have debated whether it's the right time to push for such a referendum.

“The fact of the matter is, Ohioans have already discussed this issue” in 2004, Long said. “They’ve come down on the affirmative that they believe that marriage is between one man and one woman.”

The PPP survey also showed Gov. John Kasich narrowly leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald 40 percent to 38 percent. Libertarian Charlie Earl polled 6 percent in the survey.