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Loading ...Poll: Gay marriage support jumps 10 percent in month
04.28.2009 3:27pm EDT
(New York City) A new national public opinion poll has found support for same-sex marriage has jumped nearly 10 percent in the past month.
The CBS News/New York Times poll found that 42 percent of Americans believe same-sex couples should have the right to marry. Last month a CBS/Times poll found support at 33 percent.The new poll is the highest support for gay marriage since CBS news began asking public opinion in 2004 the network said on Tuesday.
The new poll also found that opposition to gay marriage is on a steady decline with 28 percent saying same-sex couples should have no legal rights. Only 25 percent told CBS/Times pollsters that gays should have civil unions but not marriage.
CBS reported that support for gay marriage remains strongest among people who identify as liberals, with 69 percent supporting same-sex marriage.
The poll was conducted among a random sample of 973 adults nationwide and interviewed by telephone between April 22 and 26. The margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.
The timing of the poll was significant. It came after three key same-sex marriage advances – the Iowa Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage in that state, the Vermont legislature’s legalizing of gay marriage and the announcement by New York Gov. David Paterson (D) calling for legalized same-sex marriage in that state.
Gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Iowa. Legislation is before the legislatures in Maine and New Hampshire. In California, the Supreme Court is expected to rule in the coming weeks on the legality of Prop 8 the voter approved measure banning gay marriage in that state.
Iowa’s Supreme Court ruling went into effect Monday with nearly 400 same-sex couples obtaining marriage licenses. Dozens of them were able to find judges willing to waive the state’s three-day waiting and wed.
It is happening guys and gals. Sure there will be setbacks. But the country will be better off, and the homophobic churches will be exposed. And that is what they fear most – their lies and hatred will come back to them, and the collection plate will dry up.
I hope you are all involved in one way or another in actively supporting fairness and equal justice under law for all people.
I’m Gay, and I think this whole thing has blown way out of hand! Do we REALLY want to be preciously Married? Have you seen the Horror that str8’s have made marriage into? all the paperwork and what not?? I believe that we should have certain rights as marriage but why are we fighting so hard for that word marriage? California has Civil Unions! Now dont get me wrong California was ass backwards(no pun intend.) on last years election but thats because no one understood the signs for prop 8, most people thought that “say yes to prop 8″ meant yes to “the gay marriage thing” not yes for NO gay marriage! California has a Ginormous gay population that just dosnt make sense. But anyway back to my point, Why cant we just be happy being civil unionedededed?? and tweak the rights for civil unions to match marriage rights? I do not want to be “Married” but im down for being civil united”
I must admit… I am a GAY man that just years ago, thought “whats the big deal, just give us “civil unions”" but now i want and DEMAND that I (we) have EQUAL!
I am not a good hearted, tax paying, hard working American citizen to just settle for 2nd best!
Marriage Equality! Nothing More, nothing Less!
Just sharing!
Rodney’s right about gradualism. Can’t remember where I heard this, mentioned it in another thread, but democracies acknowledges a group’s rights when the group acts as if it’s entitled to these rights. The struggle over voting rights was a classic example. If A is just like B, then denying B the same rights A already has becomes a silly, foolish gesture. It was always wrong to deny B the same rights as A, but B has to act like s/he’s entitled to the same things as A.
Sure, polls can lie. But notice that you don’t see mass protests in Iowa or Vermont. It’s always been the right thing to do, but now more people find that the arguments for discrimination are empty and pointless and spiteful.
How do any of you feel about breeders getting married in this climate right now? Can you attend a wedding w/o feeling like you’re a traitor? I can’t imagine, if I were a breeder, getting married while my human counter parts are not allowed.
Gaining support in polls is good, but let’s not take these for granted. We can also lose support in the same polls a month later. Furthermore, in issues of human rights, it is not polls that should influence legislators but the belief that all people are created equal and have an inalienable right to seek happiness, including happiness in the right for a person to build a relationship with the person s/he loves.
Fabulous news! We are gaining more and more supporters all the time. My husband and I talk openly with a lot of people and we don’t hide our relationship. Come out of the closet and let people see that we are not the perverted child molesters that so many have an image of. The Conservatives and the Religious Right love to tell their lies about us. We need to stand up to them and show people what the truth is.
We just got our tee-shirts for GayDays at Disney and they say “Don’t worry. My Gay marriage won’t affect your straight divorce.”
I am reminded of a politician who would not sign onto a bill that was anti-gay. He told his collegue about his daughter who listened to a group of old men go on and on and on about gays and lesbians until she had heard enough of it. She walked over to them and said, “You just don’t get it, do you? Our generation doesn’t care anymore about that issue!”
The Equality train has left the station folks and it doesn’t back up!!! Choo-Choo!!!
Im sorry but i have problems believing this,
I was in Aol news there was a survey where over 100 000 people had voted and only 32 % said they support which is the same it has been for these past years
but at the same time i might be wrong.
More news agencies should do it…
I suspected we’d see a big jump over the last month. Equal marriage has taken an air of inevitibility, even on the conservative side. It’s becoming less politically-correct (it’s a loaded word, but it’s true) to be against it, and even some strong opponents are increasingly supportive of civil-unions.
Look for more states to join legal recognition this year, such as Illinois, New Jersey, and New York.
Nobody can say for sure, but I suspect in two or three years, the majority of Americans will finally support giving equal marriage rights to same-sex couples.
And so it goes … we have all been working hard to advance this cause and the “tipping point” is at hand! It is awesome to see this transition in the making … and many, many of us have worked hard for many, many years to make this possible now. Being visible, being active, being out in our communities, signing petitions, taking a stand (like the 4,000+ couples like us who married in San Francisco, knowing full well the marriages would not stand) — bravo! And married again, and protested AGAIN … “The times they are a’changin …” I know that it feels like it can’t come soon enough but the change is my lifetime has been enormous and continues. It will be a fine day indeed WHEN we have won our FEDERAL rights at last. Peace and Love, Bb
I have said this before. If we sit around waiting for popular opinion to catch up with our cause, we will never win. Popular opinion on social change is most often affected by change itself. That’s right, moving ahead on marriage equality instead of selling out on civil unions, is what changes people’s minds on marriage. There is this cult of inevitability in the gay community, those that feel that we should be patient and patient and patient and more patient while other nations zoom past us. They feel that marriage equality is inevitable, but it’s not. Marriage equality will only happen if and when we make it happen. If we keep taking the tranquilizing drug of gradualism or the equally evil route of civil unions, then we will indefinetely delay true equality. We shouldn’t worry about polls, they change all the time, we should forge ahead with our movement with all deliberate speed.
Oh yeah! That’s what I’m talkin’ about. We’ve been bruised and bloodied by our constant battles toward equality, but we–brothers and sisters–are winning the war.
Good point.
It would be interesting to have statistics on how many of the new gay marriage supporters were previously for civil unions.
My guess would be that the number of people who are against any recognition of gay relationships is staying flat, and people are moving from the civil unions camp to the marriage camp.
What will opponents have to say when they can’t say “the majority of Americans believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.”