Constitutional Law, Courts, Politics, Religion, Society

Poll: Over Sixty Percent Of Americans Support Gay Marriage

Wedding_cake_with_pillar_supports,_2009There is good news for those of us who support same-sex marriage (as well as an indication in the remarkable turnaround in public attitude in a relatively short time). According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 6 out of 10 Americans now support same-sex marriage and believe that states should not be allowed to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. That is a record showing for same-sex marriage.

The poll was clearly timed for oral arguments next week on whether state restrictions on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. I believe that there is likely a fifth vote with Justice Anthony Kennedy to support a ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. Indeed, it will be interesting to watch Chief Justice John Roberts on this issue. Roberts has shown a strong institutional sensitivity and many be the most likely of the remaining justices to feel the pull of history on the issue.

Not surprisingly, the greatest gains have been seen in those under age 30 where support has grown since 2005 from 57 percent to 78 percent. However, even among the historically least supportive group (those 65 and over) support is now at 46 percent (from just 18 percent).

Republicans still oppose at a rate of 6 to 10, however. This creates an interesting dynamic for the Republican primary where some candidates have already shown movement toward greater acceptance. The trend appears in that direction. Moreover, GOP candidates face the classic dilemma of fighting to secure the nomination from the most conservative members of the party while being able to run nationally to appeal to independents and democrats. The social agenda of conservative Republicans has never appealed to as much to independents and libertarians in the general election.

Source: Washington Post

325 thoughts on “Poll: Over Sixty Percent Of Americans Support Gay Marriage”

  1. Here’s the recent example of the continued leftist destructive impulse;

    Trans-Excluding Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival to End This Year
    “The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, held annually since 1976, and which in recent years attracted controversy for refusing to admit transgender women, announced on Facebook that this year will be its last. Festival founder and organizer Lisa Vogel wrote, “We have known in our hearts for some years that the life cycle of the Festival was coming to a time of closure.”</i”

    Stacy McCain:

    “Much like the Indiana pizza parlor that was targeted by a hate-storm, the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival fallen victim to a dubious idea of “rights” that, in reality, involves the negation of liberty. The strange concept I have called the “Compulsory Approval Doctrine” is a dangerous ideological weapon. If a small-town pizza parlor can’t choose which weddings it will cater, why should an all-woman event be allowed to exclude men in dresses?”

  2. David,
    Our legal system is secular. Our PEOPLE are pluralistic and that is a good thing.

    1. Annie wrote: “… yes we are a secular nation. We have not established a state religion. … Our legal system is secular.”

      The word “secular” has the connotation of rejecting religion. Wordweb defines secular as: “Of or relating to the doctrine that rejects religion and religious considerations.”

      This is why we observe Isaac in these forums arguing for freedom FROM religion instead of freedom OF religion. The first principle is a secular goal; the latter principle is not.

      Our legal system does not reject religion; therefore, it is not secular. Our Constitution even accommodates the Christian rest day of Sunday with its Sundays excepted clause, and at the end, it refers to our Lord. The founding document for the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, refers to God four times. Our Presidents say a prayer to God when swearing oaths of office and giving their State of the Union address. We protect religion by not establishing a State religion. Such does not make us a secular nation.

      The only way in which you might argue that our legal system is secular is that it does not rely upon any particular sacred text. However, this is not done for secular reasons. It is done so that there might be religious freedom. It is done in an effort not to offend any religion. It is not done in order to be free from religion. It is not done as a rejection of religion. If you want to find a legal system that is secular and therefore rejects religion, look to the former Soviet Union and modern China.

      In contrast, read Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and you will see quickly that the foundation for our legal system is not secular.

  3. “The left’s greatest trick is making things mean the opposite of what they do. Stealing is sharing. Crime is justice. Property is theft. Each deconstruction is accompanied by an inversion so that a thing, once examined, comes to seem the opposite of what it is, and once that is done, it no longer has the old innate value, but a new enlightened one.

    To deconstruct man, you deconstruct his beliefs and then his way of living. You deconstruct freedom until it means slavery. You deconstruct peace until it means war. You deconstruct property until it means theft. And you deconstruct marriage until it means a physical relationship between any group of people for any duration. And that is the opposite of what marriage is.

    The deconstruction of marriage is part of the deconstruction of gender and family and those are part

    of the long program of deconstructing man. Once each basic value has been rendered null and void, inverted and revealed to be random and meaningless, then man is likewise revealed to be a random and meaningless creature whose existence requires shaping by those who know better.

    The final deconstruction eliminates nation, religion, family and even gender to reduce the soul of man to a blank slate waiting to be written on.

    That is what is at stake here. This is not a struggle about the right of equality, but the right of definition. It is not about whether men can get married, but whether marriage will mean anything at all. It is about preserving the shapes and structures of basic social concepts that define our identities in order to preserve those very concepts, rather than accepting their deconstruction into nullification.”

  4. David, yes we are a secular nation. We have not established a state religion.

    1. Pogo Hears a Who

      What a beautifully written and highly relevant quote! You, unfortunately, do not cite your source. For those of us on here who actually enjoy reading the intelligent viewpoint of others, please cite your source. Thanks! 🙂

  5. swarth

    My point was to explain that various factors, which should not be ignored, come into play when polls are conducted. The organization conducting said poll, the types of people polled, their respective religions, incomes and levels of education, the regions or areas in which the polls are held, and the manner in which the actual question was phrased. All of these, and more, can skew results. That was my point. I would argue that the same poll, given by a more conservative paper than the Washington Post, would yield vastly different results. You need to ask yourself why?

  6. Max-1: Some people are more concerned with what God Almighty thinks than with what society thinks.

    I didn’t type Jesus’ entire quote because we are speaking of homosexuality.

    The Old Testament, Jewish laws, spoke of punishment for gay behavior. There was a compulsory death penalty for the participant’s. The New Testament doesn’t say that. However, the act is still referred to as SIN, and isn’t ignored…as I’ve noted.

  7. issac

    “In reality the marriage that is being afforded to gays and should be afforded to gays is that of the civil and legal union that concerns civil rights. The marriages as designed by religion, regardless of the religion, are determined by those religions, as they should be, religions being subsets of society. If you want to belong to a club that doesn’t recognize gay civil unions then join a club that doesn’t recognize gay civil unions.”

    So by your logic, anything goes. Multiple marriages, prostitution, divorce, etc… As long no subset makes any rules. Funny though, I consider gays as a fairly small subset and it sure seems like they are making more and more rules.

  8. SWM, I guess Gigi doesn’t think old couples and infertile people should marry.

  9. How is allowing every state to do it’s own thing regarding gay marriage fair to couples and their children who must move to another state that doesn’t recognize the legality of their marriage? I’m pretty sure the SC Justices will be discussing this in detail.

  10. Max wrote: “Loving V Virginia was against popular will at the time…
    … Activist Judge?”

    What evidence do you have that Loving was unpopular?

  11. Gigi, “Marriage, as a whole, has lost its true meaning of commitment between a man and woman as a union and stability for raising children.” Well I think you should then be excited that so many gay couples want to commit and raise children in a stable home.

  14. Gigi De La Paz – “As long at Hollywood and gay right organizations continue to inundate the public, the gay marriage rights will continue to become more favorable.
    Marriage, as a whole, has lost its true meaning of commitment between a man and woman as a union and stability for raising children.
    Anyone “marrying,” and divorcing, or just living together has become the norm. Fewer people look upon marriage as a sacred bond between a man and woman, because no one wants to commit themselves to that union these days.
    These day, America saddens me and so do you JT.”

    I couldn’t agree more. Have you gone to a wedding lately? It has turned out to be more of a reason to get gifts and throw a party. I’m to the point where I won’t go to them anymore unless they are at least in a chapel and not a hotel lobby.

  15. bam bam Gay marriage is legal in three midwestern states….Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois.

  18. Look no farther than the operative words here, WASHINGTON POST, to understand the skewed results. Who did the WASHINGTON POST actually poll? What Americans? Middle America and the southern states too? Declaring that 60% of Americans now support gay marriage is highly, highly suspect and questionable, given the reputation of the newspaper purporting to have taken the poll. How was the question phrased? Who was actually polled? Numbers? Regions of the US? That 60% seems mighty high.

  20. jimnjoy
    The buybull also says you should kill gays.
    Why is that part wrong yet other parts correct?
    Or, is it that the part about killing gays is correct, we just live in an religiously oppressed land where we can’t kill our brother w/out consequences?

    You know, in Saudi Arabia they use their holy book AGAINST their brother…
    Just sayin’

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