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Survey: More Americans Support Same-Sex Marriage Than Ever Before

This article is more than 3 years old.
Updated Oct 22, 2020, 05:01pm EDT

Topline

 Five years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had the right to marry, a study released this week from the Public Religion Research Institute found that seven in ten Americans support same-sex marriage, the highest proportion ever registered.

Key Facts

With 70% of survey respondents saying they support the right of same-sex couples to get married, it’s the most supportive Americans have been of same-sex marriage ever in a nationwide survey.

Split along political lines, 80% of Democrats and and 76% of independent voters said they were in favor of same-sex marriage, compared to half of Republicans who said the same. 

The majority of members of virtually all major religious groups also supported gay couples being able to marry, with the lone exception of white evangelical Protestants,  the only group studied that had most members (63%) say they didn’t.

Even more popular than same-sex marriage are laws that protect members of the LGBTQ community from being discriminated against when it comes to employment and housing, the study found, with 83% of respondents saying they favor those laws.

The 2020 figures represent major changes compared to previous surveys—in 2013, just 53% of respondents said they supported same-sex marriage, according to a previous PRRI report.

Key Background

According to PRRI, acceptance of same-sex marriage has grown substantially since the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision in 2015, which found same-sex couples constitutionally had the same right to marry as straight couples. However, some Americans have expressed concern that President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett could flip the court and reverse the decision if it hears another marriage equality case in the (likely) event she is confirmed. Barrett, during Senate hearings, refused to indicate which way she would vote in such a case but said, “I would never discriminate on the basis of sexual preference,” raising eyebrows for her word choice of “preference” over the more widely accepted phrase of “sexual orientation.” According to the Human Rights Campaign, less than 30 countries around the world have legislation allowing same-sex marriage on the books. LGBTQ rights campaigners found an unlikely ally this week, when Pope Francis called for same-sex civil partnerships to be legalized

Further Reading

Pope Francis Endorses Civil Unions For Same-Sex Couples (Forbes)

Amy Coney Barrett Suggests Marriage Equality Won’t Be Successfully Challenged (Forbes)

Buttigieg Says Amy Coney Barrett’s Confirmation Could Threaten His Marriage (Forbes)

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