Gallup: Majority of Republicans Support Same-Sex Marriage

In the U.S., support for same-sex marriage has reached a new high of 70 percent, according to a new poll by Gallup.

The new high shows an increase of 10 percent since the Supreme Court ruled on marriage equality in 2015. It's an upward trend, Gallup notes, that's been happening for a quarter of a century.

When Gallup first asked respondents if they supported a legal recognition of "gay and lesbian" marriages in 1996, only 26 percent were in support.

In 2011, Gallup reported for the first time that a majority of respondents supported marriage equality.

This year, a majority of respondents -- at 55 percent -- who identified as Republicans supported same-sex marriage for the first time, according to Gallup.

More than 80 percent of Democrats support marriage equality, which hasn't shifted in several years. Independents support it at 73%, which is higher than previous years when the range was 68 to 71 percent from 2017 to 2020.

Age changes the position on same-sex marriage, but a majority in each age group still favors it: 84 percent of young adults support it, 72 percent of middle-aged adults support it, and 60 percent of older adults support it.

"Once opponents of legalization, Republicans have mostly come to back it. Court and legislative challenges to the legal status of same-sex marriage have simmered down since the Supreme Court issued its decision," Gallup reported. "Meanwhile, older U.S. adults, who were once holdouts in support for gay marriage, now come down on the same side of the issue as young adults."

The new numbers came from Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs poll that was conducted from May 3-18 from a random sample of phone interviews with 1,000 people.