Gay Marriage Support Hits New High in Washington Post-ABC News Poll
A significant majority (58%) of American voters for the first time approve of gay marriage, ABC News reports. A previous ABC News/Washington Post Poll in 2004 showed only 32% favored gay marriage. Three years ago, support was at 47%. Just two years ago, a narrow majority approved. The recent Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted March 7 to 10, among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. The margin of sampling error for the full survey is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
The poll also found that 72% of Democrats and 62% of independents, but only 34 percent of Republicans support marriage equality. However, in 2004, only 16% of Republicans favored legalizing same-sex marriage; 38 percent of Independents and 43% of Democrats. The greatest growth was reported among moderates, 31 points higher now than in 2004.
Age Matters in Outlook
A slim majority of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents under 50 years old now support gay marriage. Nearly 7 in 10 of those aged 65 and up oppose it, but just four years ago, opposition was 8 in 10. Support has been increasing among older adults, but 44 percent say same-sex marriage should be legal; 50 percent say illegal. But since March 2011, both the under 30 age group and the over 65 group has shown a rise of ten points and more than twenty points since 2004, the lowest point for gay marriage support in ABC/Post polls.
The support for gay marriage is particularly strong among young adults, ages 18 to 29. The record high for the new poll is 81 percent.
Public Opinion About Homosexuality
Fully 62% of Americans now think being gay is just the way some people are, not a “lifestyle.” This is different from 20 years ago, when fewer than half of the public said so.
For those who see it as a “choice,” more than two-thirds oppose gay marriage. About ¾ of those who see it as innate, support gay marriage.
Poll About Supreme Court Considerations of DOMA, Prop 8 Next Week
With political figures such as President Obama and, more recently, Hillary Clinton, endorsing same-sex marriage, nearly two-thirds of all Americans say the matter should be decided for all states on the basis of the U.S. Constitution, not with each state making its own laws.
Currently, gay marriage is legal in only nine states and the District of Columbia, but public views are more similar across state lines. In the states that allow gay marriage, 68 percent say such same-sex marriages should be legal, but so too do 56% of those in states where the practice is not legal.
In states where gay marriage is legal, 52 percent feel strongly that it should be legal. Where gay marriage is not legal, 39 percent feel strongly that it should be legalized.
