New Surveys Demonstrate Americans Increasingly Approve of Marriage Equality
A new article by Crosby Burns for the Center for American Progress points out that American public opinion has crossed a historic threshold: for the first time ever, a majority of Americans now approve of full marriage equality for same-sex couples. Six national polls since last August have demonstrated that most Americas support marriage equality by a slim majority. Taken together, the polls show that support for marriage equality lies somewhere between 51 percent and 53 percent.
CAP reported in March that polls had shown growing numbers of religious Americans supporting the ability of gay couples to marry. Recent polls have also shown that while most Americans over the age of 65 oppose same-sex marriage, younger Americans approve of marriage equality by a wide margin and in increasing numbers. While Republican voters remain opposed to marriage equality, polls show a 10 percent increase in support among independents and a 13 percent increase in support among Democrats since early 2010.
Despite still-to-high rates of workplace discrimination and harassment against gay and transgender people, and recent efforts to slash programs beneficial to the gay community,crossing the 50/50 threshold of public support for marriage equality indicates progress in the ongoing struggle for gay rights. Nearly 75 percent of Americans support workplace protections for gay and transgender people. Just today, a New Jersey lawmaker introduced a same-sex marriage bill into the state legislature, and the New York state legislature debated legalizing gay marriage.
Crosby Burns writes that public opinion “is evolving swiftly and steadily towards full support for marriage equality.” Find out more about the recent polls by reading the full article here, and the gay and transgender issues section of AmericanProgress.org.