Majority Still Supports Gay Marriage with Old Divisions Still Lasting

61% of the U.S. support gay marriage

A recent study by the Pew Research Center has found that many people in the U.S. still support gay marriage. The study found that 61 percent of all the people interviewed support gay marriage[/tweetit] while 31 percent of the interviewees oppose marriage. While this is a substantial shift in the support going back as far as 2004, it appears as though these numbers are holding steady over the last two years on both sides of the issue.

Majority Still Supports Gay Marriage with Old Divisions Still Lasting[/tweetthis]

However, the divisions for the people that are against this form of marriage are formed largely on the political and ages of the people that were used in the study. Specifically, the research found that 43 percent of Democrats said that they agreed with gay marriage in 2004 and now 75 percent of Democrats agree with gay marriage.
The Republican-leaning respondents originally supported gay marriage in 2004 at a rate of 19 percent. In 2019, that number has grown to 44 percent, which shows that they are still most of the individuals that are against gay marriage in the modern day. Yet, there is still another overlay of information that is worth examining with regards to the acceptance of gay marriage.

The generational view of gay marriage has revealed that younger people are more likely to support gay marriage relative to members of older generations. The number of supporters from the Millennial generation was 74 percent and that has been a high number for a while. However, Generation X members only have 58 percent support for gay married while the Boomers and Silent Generation have 51 percent and 45 percent of support respectively.

In a rather surprising move, religious groups have boasted a large amount of support for gay marriage when examined solely on the grounds of gay marriage. The study found that 61 percent of Catholics and 66 percent of Protestants are interested in giving gay people the right to marriage. This is a large amount of people, but the fact remains that atheist people 79 percent believe that gay marriage is a right that should be extended to all gay people.
All in all, the battle lines appear to have been drawn and nobody is budging on the issue. Recent years have shown little movement on either side, and it remains unclear what it will take for more people to accept gay marriage. It is certain that younger generations are going to have greater acceptance, so as the older generations disappear there will be an increase in the acceptance of gay marriage.

Resources

• Pew Research Center

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