The Beginning of the End of the Same-Sex Marriage Debate?
May 23, 2011
Robert P. Jones, Ph.D. CEO and Founder of the Public Religion Research Institute has an interesting piece on Huffington Post called The New Majority in the Same-Sex Marriage Debate analyzing the recent polls/surveys showing a majority of Americans supporting the freedom to marry.
We now have no less than four reputable national public opinion surveys in three months showing a slim majority of Americans now support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. Looking at the current convergence of polls, past trends, and current support patterns, this clearly looks like the beginning of the end of the same-sex marriage debate.
On May 20, 2011, Gallup became the sixth national poll in the past few months to confirm majority support nationwide for the freedom to marry. The Gallup poll found a 9% jump in overall support since last year, showing accelerating growth in the number of Americans who believe in ending marriage discrimination.
The latest survey from Public Religion Research Institute showed 51% of Americans supporting marriage. And, as Dr. Jones points out,
The debate is no longer between secular Americans who support same-sex marriage on one side and religious Americans who oppose it on the other. It is true that religiously unaffiliated Americans are strongly supportive of same-sex marriage (77 percent). But solid majorities of Catholics and white mainline Protestants (56% and 55% respectively) also support allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry.
Momentum is growing, but we have much work to do. Watch Freedom to Marry’s Roadmap to Victory video to see our plan for winning marriage nationwide.