News
2006-01-06
Poll: High school
seniors favor gay rights
The latest in a
series of youth opinion polls shows strong support for
same-sex marriage.
The latest in a
The latest in a
series of youth opinion polls conducted by Hamilton
College students and faculty reveals overwhelming support
for same-sex marriage and other rights for gay
people among the nation's high school seniors.
According to the poll, the results of which were
released on Thursday in Washington, D.C., members of the
high school class of 2006 are twice as likely as
adults to support legal recognition of same-sex
marriages.
Hamilton College
sociology professor Dennis Gilbert and his students
collaborated with the polling firm Zogby International to
conduct the national Youth Hot Button Issues Poll.
High school seniors were selected for this eighth in
the Hamilton Youth Poll series as representatives of a
rising generation of Americans and potential voters in
November 2006. One thousand high school seniors from
across the United States were contacted by phone
for the study.
Among the poll's
findings: Three quarters of this year's high school
seniors favor legal recognition of same-sex relationships,
either as marriage or civil union; three in four
seniors oppose a constitutional amendment to ban
same-sex marriage; and 63% support adoptions by gay
couples.
The poll also
revealed that this year's graduating class has strong
reservations about abortion. Two thirds of high school
seniors would require parental consent before a woman
under the age of 18 could legally obtain an abortion,
and the majority of high school seniors do not believe
that a woman who is poor and unable to afford another child
should have a legal right to an abortion. Seventy percent of
females in the class of 2006 say they would not
consider abortion if they became pregnant while in
high school. Yet more than 60% of high school
seniors want the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve the Roe
v. Wade abortion decision. (Advocate.com)
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