New Marriage Equality Poll: We Have Reached The Tipping Point!

Majority of Americans say they support same-sex marriage, adoption by gay and lesbian couples

A recent Religion and Politics Tracking Survey, conducted by Public Religion Research Institute, is the third national poll in as many months to find majority support for same-sex marriage: a slim majority (51%) of Americans now favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry, compared to 43% percent who are opposed.

The results of the three polls are remarkably consistent even though the other two surveys were conducted by different organizations (ABC News/Washington Post; CNN/Opinion Research Corp.) using different question wordings.

Majority also supports adoption by gay and lesbian couples.

A majority (56%) of Americans favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt children, compared to 36% who are opposed.

Religious & political differences persist.

There is significant difference in support for same-sex marriage across religious and political affiliation groups.

•A solid majority of Catholics and white mainline Protestants (56% and 55% respectively) favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry, compared to only 23% of white evangelical Protestants. Nearly 8-in-10 (77%) Americans who are not affiliated with any religion support same-sex marriage.

•More than 6-in-10 (61%) Democrats and a majority (55%) of political independents support allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry. In contrast, less than 4-in-10 (37%) Republicans and only 34% of Americans who identify with the Tea Party movement support same-sex marriage.

Strong supporters now equal strong opponents.

There are now as many Americans who strongly support same-sex marriage as strongly oppose it. One-in-four (24%) Americans report that they strongly favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry, equal to the number who strongly oppose it (25%).

The Washington Post/ABC News poll also found this parity among strong supporters and strong opponents.

Support extends beyond youngest Americans.

Sixty-one percent of 18-34 year olds support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, but so do nearly 6-in-10 (57%) Americans between the ages of 35 and 49.