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Gallup: For First Time, Majority of Americans Favor Legal Gay Marriage
Gallup ^ | 05/20/2011 | Frank Newport

Posted on 05/20/2011 11:06:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

PRINCETON, NJ -- For the first time in Gallup's tracking of the issue, a majority of Americans (53%) believe same-sex marriage should be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages. The increase since last year came exclusively among political independents and Democrats. Republicans' views did not change.

These results are based on Gallup's May 5-8 Values and Beliefs poll, which has tracked attitudes toward legalizing same-sex marriage each year since 2004, adding to Gallup's initial polling on the topic in 1996 and 1999.

This year's nine-percentage-point increase in support for same-sex marriage is the largest year-to-year shift yet measured over this time period. Two-thirds of Americans were opposed to legalized same-sex marriage in 1996, with 27% in favor. By 2004, support had risen to 42% and, despite some fluctuations from year to year, stayed at roughly that level through last year.

Democrats' and Independents' Greater Acceptance Shifts the Balance

Democrats' and independents' support for legalized same-sex marriage increased this year by 13 and 10 points, respectively. Republicans' views on the issue did not change from last year. Clear majorities of both Democrats and independents now support gay marriage, 69% and 59% respectively, contrasted with 28% support among Republicans.

Majorities of moderates and liberals support gay marriage, as they did last year, contrasted with 28% of conservatives.

Support for Legal Same-Sex Marriage Decreases Sharply With Age

Support for legal gay marriage decreases markedly with age, ranging from 70% support among those aged 18 to 34, to 39% support among those 55 and older. More broadly, support is highest among younger women and lowest among older men.

Compared with last year, support for legalizing same-sex marriage increased most among younger, 18- to 34-year-old Americans, and among men under 50.

(Excerpt) Read more at gallup.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2011polls; gallup; gaymarriage; homosexualagenda; homosexuality; marriage; samesexmarriage
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1 posted on 05/20/2011 11:06:56 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
Another interesting tidbit:

Support for legal same-sex marriage is higher among those who attend church less frequently, among Catholics than among Protestants, and among those who are unmarried.
2 posted on 05/20/2011 11:07:45 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (u)
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To: SeekAndFind

Bullshit....


3 posted on 05/20/2011 11:08:07 AM PDT by B.O. Plenty (Give war a chance...)
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To: SeekAndFind

I smell bull. This is bogus.


4 posted on 05/20/2011 11:09:33 AM PDT by This Just In (In America, RINO's belong in zoo's, not public office)
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To: SeekAndFind
Proof positive: Indoctrination works.
5 posted on 05/20/2011 11:09:59 AM PDT by Crim (Palin / West '12)
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To: B.O. Plenty

They never asked me...oh wait, I guess a white Anglo Saxon Heterosexual Male is the minority. Never mind.


6 posted on 05/20/2011 11:10:07 AM PDT by DonkeyBonker
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To: SeekAndFind
I flat out do not believe it. Who did they poll?

Mike

7 posted on 05/20/2011 11:10:23 AM PDT by MichaelP (The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools ~HS)
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To: SeekAndFind
"There are Lies, *$%#@ Lies and Statistics!" Mark Twain This is Barbara Streisand by the bucket load!
8 posted on 05/20/2011 11:10:43 AM PDT by pastorbillrandles
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To: SeekAndFind

Interesting read.

Yet, if there was all this support for same-sex marriage, why has state after state voted to ban it, rather than state after state voting to allow it?

If these numbers are really accurate,then laws will change. Otherwise, the activists will continue their push to force this issue through the courts.

Indeed, part of the reason that 31 out of 50 states have constitutional amendments defining marriage is precisely because the activists wanted to force it through the courts.

So the legal landscape surrounding this issue, and the fact that so many states have banned it, is really due to the fact that the activists are forcing it through the courts.


9 posted on 05/20/2011 11:11:20 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: SeekAndFind

10 posted on 05/20/2011 11:12:11 AM PDT by South40 (Ron Paul and his flaming antiwar spam monkeys can Kiss my Ass!!" -- Jim Robinson, 09/30/07)
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To: MichaelP

RE: I flat out do not believe it. Who did they poll?

__________________________________________________________________________________

GALLUP says this :

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted May 5-8, 2011, with a random sample of 1,018 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cell phone respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000 national adults, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents for gender within region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cell phones numbers are selected using random digit dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.

Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cell phone-only/landline only/both, cell phone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2010 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.


11 posted on 05/20/2011 11:12:14 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (u)
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To: This Just In; B.O. Plenty
From the article: Democrats' and independents' support for legalized same-sex marriage increased this year by 13 and 10 points, respectively. Republicans' views on the issue did not change from last year.
12 posted on 05/20/2011 11:12:14 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (America! The wolves are at your door! How will you answer the knock?)
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To: SeekAndFind

You should sell this liberal propaganda some place else, SeekAndFind. DU’s looking for salesmen.


13 posted on 05/20/2011 11:12:43 AM PDT by This Just In (In America, RINO's belong in zoo's, not public office)
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To: SeekAndFind
Most cannot tell the difference between gay marriage and civil unions..
NOT that the question is even asked.. about choice between them..

Those two questions are almost never asked with those two choices..
Shacking up can also be a civil union.. thats the kicker..
since gay unions IS SHACKING UP.. in every case..

14 posted on 05/20/2011 11:13:22 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole...)
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To: pastorbillrandles
Gallup: For First Time, Majority of Americans Favor Legal Gay Marriage

Someone probably asked if people favored happy marriages and then said, well, gay just means happy, so...
15 posted on 05/20/2011 11:13:39 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: This Just In

RE: You should sell this liberal propaganda some place else, SeekAndFind

Hey, don’t blame me, I’m just a poster. if you have a beef with Gallups methodology, take it up with them.


16 posted on 05/20/2011 11:14:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (u)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

“Yet, if there was all this support for same-sex marriage, why has state after state voted to ban it, rather than state after state voting to allow it?”

Now here is someone who’s really paying attention, thankfully.


17 posted on 05/20/2011 11:14:51 AM PDT by This Just In (In America, RINO's belong in zoo's, not public office)
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To: hosepipe

Even some marriages are just shacking up...


18 posted on 05/20/2011 11:15:06 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole...)
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To: aruanan

RE: gay just means happy, so...

The word “gay” has been hijacked by the homosexual community many moons ago. They also hijacked the word “queer”.


19 posted on 05/20/2011 11:15:39 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (u)
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To: SeekAndFind

You’re the Freep who posted it, and your comments didn’t protest the propaganda. I’m taking it up with you.

Freepers don’t let Freepers become useful idiots.


20 posted on 05/20/2011 11:16:27 AM PDT by This Just In (In America, RINO's belong in zoo's, not public office)
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