Virtually Every Demographic Group Now Supports Gay Marriage
With the Supreme Court nearing its historic ruling on same-sex marriage, recent Gallup polling shows a remarkably broad-based public shift toward support of such unions.
Earlier this month, Gallup reported that 60 percent of all adults agreed that "marriages between same-sex couples should ... be recognized by the law as valid." That was the most support the Gallup Poll has ever recorded for same-sex marriages, and more than double the 27 percent who endorsed such marriages when Gallup first asked the question in 1996.
As striking as the depth of this opinion shift is its breadth. While support for same-sex marriage still varies across key demographic lines—young Americans, for instance, are more supportive than older Americans—all groups have moved toward greater acceptance since Gallup's March 1996 survey. In 1996, same-sex marriage did not draw majority support from any major group that Gallup measured. Now it registers majority support from virtually every significant component of the American electorate.
Gallup's initial 1996 survey took place during the same year President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and allowed states to deny recognition to unions performed in other states. (The Supreme Court has since struck down part of the law.)
Graphic at link... http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/newsdesk/gay-marriage-polling-shows-american-support-across-demographic-groups-20150527
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