Poll: 2 in 3 Democrats back same-sex marriage

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

(CBS News) One day after national Democrats took a step toward include support for same-sex marriage on their official platform, a new survey from the Pew Forum suggests that most members of the party would support the move.

According to the poll, conducted from June 28-July 9 among 2,973 adults, nearly two in three Democrats - 65 percent - favor same-sex marriage.

It's an issue that many Democratic politicians have only recently embraced. Until this spring, President Obama characterized his views on same-sex marriage as "evolving" but declined to overtly support a law that would allow same-sex couples to marry.

In May, however, the president finished his evolution: In a hastily-arranged interview just days after Vice President Joe Biden talked openly about his support for same-sex marriage, Mr. Obama expressed his belief that "same sex couples should be able to get married."

The Pew survey suggests that Americans' beliefs surrounding same-sex marriage are also evolving over time. In 2004, only 40 percent of Democrats favored same-sex marriage; in 2008, that number had reached 50 percent.

Republicans and independents are less supportive of same-sex marriage, although those groups, too, have become more supportive over time. Currently, 24 percent of Republicans support same-sex marriage -- up from 19 percent in 2008 and 17 percent in 2004. Fifty-one percent of independents favor same-sex marriage, up from 44 percent in 2008 and 37 percent in 2004.

Overall, 48 percent of adults favor same-sex marriage and 44 percent oppose it, according to the poll.

The Pew survey suggests that there has been little shift in public opinion as a result of Mr. Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage. Support for same-sex marriage in two Pew polls taken since the announcement are virtually identical from an April survey by the same organization.

[ObamaBlackRobinHood]

Of course, they have no morals, ethics, or self respect. Look at Chicago and Columbia because they're killing each other (Liberals) every day.

[ultraskygod]

no morals? get back on your knees, punk

[bradkt1]

So...1 out of every 3 democrats does NOT support homosecxual marriage...

...and if even one-third of that number (or 1 out of 9 democrats) abandons the democrats this election and votes for the GOP candidates for national office because of the stance of the Democratic Party on this issue, that means that the GOP will win the Presidency and will win control both houses of Congress.

That's what this poll really means.

[Current12]

But almost 1/3 of the Republican Party also supports it... and a majority of Independents... you're also assuming that people will make this into a one-issue election. I thought the GOP said it's only about the economy?

[bradkt1]

Current12:

You don't get it. This means that this issue does not unify the party. It splits the party and you cannot win with a divided Democratic Party.

When will you hardheaded left wing ideologues ever learn this? Is it going to take your blowing yet another election and hand9ng victory to the Republicans again?

[rafaelkafka]

That is great, they can say goodbye to a majority in the house, the senate for decades lol! Democrats showing their true ****** spirit!

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

Have you spoken to anyone under the age of 25 about this lately?

THEY DON'T CARE! LOL! It won't take decades!

[Maerzie]

Interesting how they could claim that without ever even polling over HALF the Democrats! Not a single Democrat that I know had been polled.

[Current12]

You need to take a statistics class...

[michaelz06]

by Current12 July 31, 2012 6:31 PM EDT
You need to take a statistics class...

And Current12, you need to study reality. The simple fact is that poll results can be skewed in so many ways as to make them irrelevant. November counts. I don't profess how that will go, and this is not a comment on the merits of the position. But politically, it is a risky thing, which does make me think that Democrats in general are doing everything they can think of to pander to various blocks in the hopes that it will be enough to divert from and offset from their leader's rotten record on the economy.

[Maerzie]

I wonder how the came to that conclusion without asking even HALF of the Democrats! "Assuming" is dangerous!

It makes: "ASS" with "U" and "ME"!

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

I answered an online poll meant to send a message to the Democratic Party.

[blue_ohio]

The poll shows that Republicans are starting to come around, too. And is it just me, or are the arguments against same-sex marriage getting goofier and more hyperbolic every year? Someone on this comment thread calls it 'genocide.' Really? You can't do better than that?

[rightone12]

When will everybody realize that what makes all people the same is so much more important than what makes us different. I just don't understand the bigots who discriminate against gays. As if homosexuals aren't human beings too. As if they're not someone's son, or daughter, or sister, or brother, or father, or mother, or friend. All people want to live in peace, we all feel love, we all want the best for our loved ones, we all have hopes and dreams, we can all feel pain, we all want to follow our bliss, we all struggle, we're all just trying to get through life the best way we know how. How does any of that change with the color of someone's skin, or their physical abilities, or what God they pray to, or what language they speak, or what their sexual orientation is? If a man loves and wants to marry another man, or a woman loves and wants to marry another woman, what is that to anyone else? They're not hurting anyone. Only a truly vicious, hateful, spiteful, selfish, vile misanthrope would begrudge someone their love of someone else. People who hate homosexuals should be ashamed of themselves. Those bigots deserve to live in the shadows. They're not fit to show their faces in decent society. And it seems patently unfair that gays and their families should suffer the devastating effects of discrimination, while bigots and their loved ones go along untouched. It's past time that the bigots are made to pay for their discrimination BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. Let the bigots and their loved ones start suffering and maybe they'll learn their lesson.

[Current12]

SoloCup, perhaps you'd like to read up on studies relating homosexuality and pedophilia.

(Spoiler Alert: There's no relationship)

[Left-Wing-loon]

Must be all that sexual immorality and porn causing everyone who doen't have an morals to become pervs.
Current12 is in denial.

[rightone12]

When will everybody realize that what makes all people the same is so much more important than what makes us different. I just don't understand the bigots who discriminate against gays. As if homosexuals aren't human beings too. As if they're not someone's son, or daughter, or sister, or brother, or father, or mother, or friend. All people want to live in peace, we all feel love, we all want the best for our loved ones, we all have hopes and dreams, we can all feel pain, we all want to follow our bliss, we all struggle, we're all just trying to get through life the best way we know how. How does any of that change with the color of someone's skin, or their physical abilities, or what God they pray to, or what language they speak, or what their sexual orientation is? If a man loves and wants to marry another man, or a woman loves and wants to marry another woman, what is that to anyone else? They're not hurting anyone. Only a truly vicious, hateful, spiteful, selfish, vile misanthrope would begrudge someone their love of someone else. People who hate homosexuals should be ashamed of themselves. Those bigots deserve to live in the shadows. They're not fit to show their faces in decent society. And it seems patently unfair that gays and their families should suffer the devastating effects of discrimination, while bigots and their loved ones go along untouched. It's past time that the bigots are made to pay for their discrimination BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. Let the bigots and their loved ones start suffering and maybe they'll learn their lesson.