50 Percent of Americans Support Same-Sex Marriage

Support for same-sex marriage has doubled in the last 15 years, though it still falls clearly along political and religious lines.

The most recent Gallup poll, conducted earlier this year (May 3-6), found 50 percent of Americans stated they support legalization of same-sex marriage, compared with just 26 percent from the first time Gallup asked this question (in 1996).

The percentage of Americans supporting same-sex marriage has increased significantly in the last couple of years, jumping six points since Gallup noted 44 percent of Americans supported the issue in 2010. The poll was conducted by surveying a random sample of more than 1,000 adults (18+) spread among all United States.

“Though the Catholic Church officially opposes same-sex marriage,

51 percent of Catholics think same-sex marriage should be legal.”

Yet even though support for same-sex marriage is growing, the Gallup poll underscores how this support aligns closely with religious and political affiliation. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats supported same-sex marriage, while only 22 percent of Republicans and 57 percent of Independents supported the issue.

So far the Democratic Party has made same-sex marriage part of their platform, while the Republican Party has run on an anti-same-sex marriage platform.

Religiously speaking, 88 percent of individuals who do not identify with a religion supported same-sex marriage, while 51 percent of Catholics supported same-sex marriage and only 38 percent of Protestants felt same-sex couples had the legal right to get married.

Photo source: abc.net.au