A new poll released Wednesday shows that for the first time in three decades registered California voters approve of allowing same-sex couples to marry -- by a margin of 51% to 42% -- a flip from the last poll taken in 2006, when voters disapproved of gay marriage 50% to 44%.
The nonpartisan California Field Poll of 1,052 registered voters, conducted May 17–26, with a 3.2% margin of error, also found voters were leery of the proposed ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman, with 54% opposing the measure and 40% favoring it.
The electorate is sharply divided in opinion by age, gender, religion, and political ideology. Californians aged 18–29 favor same-sex marriage by more than a 2-to-1 margin (68% to 25%), and those 30–39 also strongly support marriage (58% to 34%), while voters 65 and older disapprove of extending marriage rights by an equally strong margin, 55% to 36%.
Men and women differ on the issue, with men about evenly divided, while women favor marriage equality by a margin of 14 percentage points.
Protestants largely disapprove of same-sex marriage, with 57% opposed, while Catholics are more evenly divided on the issue. Respondents who said they were religious but did not identify as Catholic or Protestant favored same-sex marriage 61% to 33%. Those who claimed no religious affiliation viewed marriage equality even more charitably, with 81% in favor.
Those identifying as "strongly conservative" and "strongly liberal" proved polar opposites, with the former group opposed 85%–11% and the latter in favor by precisely the same margin. Meanwhile, voters who identified as “middle-of-the-road” politically supported allowing gay couples to marry 53% to 35%. (The Advocate)
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