CBS Poll: Changing Views On Gay Marriage

Most Americans continue to think there should be some legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples, and 30 percent say same-sex couples should be allowed to marry - the highest number since CBS News began asking this question in 2004.

Twenty-eight percent think same-sex couples should be permitted to form civil unions, but more than a third - 36 percent - say there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship.

Last month, the California Supreme Court struck down that state's ban on same-sex marriage, paving the way for gay and lesbian couples to marry there.

Americans' views on this issue have changed since 2004, although opinion has not changed substantially in the last two years. In November of 2004 (soon after the presidential election) just 21 percent of Americans supported the idea of same-sex couples being allowed to marry.

Majorities of both men and women support some form of legal recognition for gay and lesbian couples, but more women (36 percent) than men (24 percent) back the idea of same-sex marriage.

More than six in 10 Democrats think same-sex couples should be allowed to either marry or form civil unions. Fifty percent of Republicans are against either of these options.

There are regional differences, too. Four in 10 of those living in the western portion of the U.S. favor same-sex marriage - the highest of any other region. Americans living in the south are least likely to support it.

Groups most likely to support same-sex marriage include those under age 30, liberals, Americans living in the west, and those who never go to church.

Republicans, conservatives, white evangelicals and weekly church attendees are groups that are least likely to support the idea.

Read The Complete CBS News Poll

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,038 adults nationwide, including 930 registered voters, interviewed by telephone May 30-June 3, 2008. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus four percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. The error for the sample of registered voters is plus or minus four points.

[shortinch87]

i am writing a paper right now on peoples views on same sex marriage and it seems that alot of views fall back on religious teachings however people fight so hard to keep other religious views out of school, courts and other things as well i think if we are truely going to have a seperation of church and state then we should allow people to marry whom ever they want. how fair is it to make that choice for someone else. i have many gay or lesbian friends and even though some of them may be very flamboyant there are also others that you would never even know were gay. so i think its wrong to judge homosexuals by the life style of some of them

[jmhobson]

Also who is to prevent someone from getting "bullied" into such a nasty situation?

[jmhobson]

Also who is to prevent someone from getting "bullied" into such a situation?

[jmhobson]

The thing that gets to me is that of all civil rights movements to secure equality, this one seems to trivialize the rest simply because this one is strictly By Choice to make them feel better about themselves whereas the other ones were to overcome vindictive prejudicial indignity due to Who they are rather than What they are.

[hwy71so]

One word describes same gender "marriage".

Abomination.

[luvusa]

It drives me NUTS when I hear people DEMAND respect when they don''t act respectfully themselves. And it drives me equally as NUTS when these disrespectful people are heard and their rights over ride those of good law abiding, moral people. You want respect you have to earn it. Take off the a$$less chaps, feather boas and start acting respectfully and you will get respect.

[luvusa]

I AM disgusted by the a-ssless chaps and feather boas and extreme PDA for ANYONE, straight OR gay. Posted by kevzgrl

Yes, and it is extremely irresponsible, in todays day and age, what with HIV/AIDS and STD''s on the rise to exibit in such a way. It is confusing to young people and does nothing to help stop the spread of diseases.

[kevzgrl]

The problem is that once you permit the gay people to marry, you are showing our children that it is perfectly ok to be gay, and some children that would otherwise straighten out will end up being gay.
posted by easttx390 - WHATTTT??? A person does NOT become ga-y because their parents are ga-y - no more than a person becomes an IDIOT because their parents were IDIOTS. Bigots now, that''s a different story, obviously....

[luvusa]

Neocon9,

I agree. There may be those holier than thou "christians" who preach hate in the name of the Lord, they do not define all of us and certainly not me. Homosexuals accuse ALL who are against g@y "marriage" as being these radical Christians...isn''t that bigotry? They are all a bunch of hypocrites, if you ask me. And yes, I agree that they are attacking religion and the traditional family by forcing us to change the laws of marriage. I don''t care what they do in the bedroom, to each his/her own but when you try to change the sanctity of the institution of marriage, I do care. Change the laws of "civil unions" and leave marriage alone.

[kevzgrl]

Ooops, I forgot - CBS censors.....
Heaven forbid I should offend anyone by saying the word S-E-X...