A new Gallup poll shows that Americans are increasingly supportive of same-sex marriage.
A new Gallup poll shows that Americans are increasingly supportive of same-sex marriage.
In its most recent survey, 64% of respondents said they believe the unions should be legal. That is a record high.
While it’s not a huge increase from last year’s 61%, it is a significant advance from 1996, the year of Gallup’s first inquiry into the matter. Back then, only 27% said gay marriages should be recognized as valid by the law.
According to a Gallup press release, "In 2004 -- weeks before gay weddings took place in Massachusetts after it became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage -- less than half of Americans (42%) felt such unions should be legally valid."
The majority marker was passed in 2011, with 53% of poll participants expressing a favorable stance.
Among political groups, Democrats were the first to cross the majority threshold, doing so in 2004. Independents did so 3 years later.
Republicans have yet to pass the 50% mark, but are coming closer. This year, 47% of the Republicans questioned described themselves as supportive, which is triple the number reported in 1996.
The Gallup poll involved 1,011 adults and was conducted between May 3 and May 7.
