Poll Showing Majority In US Want National Law Supporting Gay Marriage Is Quite Revealing

By David Badash on July 29, 2013

In Marriage,News,Politics

A poll that finds the majority of Americans not only support same-sex marriage, but would vote for a national law making same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states is quite revealing — in what demographic groups wouldn’t vote for it.

Gallup today released the poll in the wake of last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling finding part of DOMA — the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 that banned the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages — to be unconstitutional.
52 percent of American adults “would cast their vote in favor, while 43% would vote against” a law making marriage equality the law of the land. And while the majority of most demographic groups make up that 52 percent, the list of groups that do not is quite revealing.
When asked, “Suppose that on Election Day you could vote on key issues as well as candidates. Would you vote for or against a federal law that would make same-sex marriages legal in all 50 states?,” those who would vote against a national referendum on making marriage available to same-sex couples in all 50 states include 73% of those who attend church weekly. 67% of conservatives, 66% of Republicans, 58% of both Protestants and those 55 and older, and 51% of those who live in the south.
Men were statistically evenly-split, with 46% voting against equality, and 48% voting for it.
Gallup also notes that the Supreme Court decision did not change the overall results.
In a poll separate from a national law, Gallup found 54 percent of Americans believe same-sex marriage should be legal.