As Californians eagerly await a ruling in the Prop 8 trial, a Field Poll released on Tuesday shows that 51 percent of registered voters approve of same-sex marriage.
Only 42 percent of the electorate disapproves of allowing gays and lesbians to have their marriages legally recognized, while 7 percent have no opinion. Disturbingly for us, when voters are given a third option—permitting civil unions but not same-sex marriage—approval for full marriage equality drops to just 44 percent, with 34 percent of voters supporting the civil union alternative.
The Field Poll, which has been measuring public opinion toward same-sex marriage for more than 30 years, reveals that approval for gay marriage has been steadily increasing from just 28 percent in 1977 to the current rate of 51 percent.
The poll further breaks voting preferences down by subgroups such as political party (68 percent of democrats approve of same-sex marriage, while only 26 percent of republicans approve); age (68 percent of those age 18-29 approve, while only 42 percent of those 65 and older approve); and gender (54 percent of females approve, while only 47 percent of males approve).
Another poll released by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) yesterday reveals similar findings to the Field Poll but also concludes that only one-in-five Californians thinks that Prop-8 has been a “good thing” for the state.
Following the overall trend toward greater approval for same-sex marriage in California, the PRRI poll also reports that one-in-four Californians have become more supportive of gay marriage in the last five years, while only 8 percent say they’ve become more opposed to same-sex marriage.
