As the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the legality of same-sex marriages beginning last Tuesday, there were duel surveys conducted by both CNN/ORC International and ABC/Washington Post. CNN was curious whether Americans thought marriage-related businesses (i.e., florists and caterers) should be required to serve gays and lesbians in the same way they serve heterosexuals. ABC was eager to discover how many U.S. citizens now favor allowing gays and lesbians to legally marry. In both cases, the results were a landslide, and represented another win for the LGBT community.
An overwhelming 61 percent of Americans polled thought that gays should be allowed to marry in the ABC poll, with only 35 percent opposed. Not surprisingly, an exact same number said that individual states should not be allowed to define marriage as just between a man and a woman.
What a difference a decade makes. Back in 2005, a full 58 percent thought same-sex marriage should not be allowed (compared to only 39 percent in support).
Equally as amazing is that support for gay marriage is not limited to one age range or political group. Young adults (under the age of 30) have increased their support from 57 percent 10 years ago to 78 percent currently. Seniors (65 and over) have seen their support grow from 18 percent a decade ago to 46 percent now. Not a majority, but getting closer every year
Republicans as a group still failed to see the wisdom of allowing same-sex weddings. Six out of 10 oppose allowing gays to marry. Among conservative Republicans, that number grows to 71 percent. This number will prove to be increasingly relevant as the country moves into the Presidential election months since primaries and caucuses are heavily governed by the conservative element within the party.
Democrats have traditionally been more liberal in their views, and that fact is revealed in the numbers as well. Seventy-six percent of registered Democrats feel strongly that gays and lesbians should be able to marry as opposed to 21 percent of Democrats who think they should not.
All races consistently voted at the 60 percent plus level in favor of same-sex marriage, with the exception of the heavily Catholic Hispanic population, where only 55 percent thought it a good idea for gays and lesbians to take the plunge.
CNN focused on business’ obligations to provide a wedding service for same-sex marriage ceremonies, centering on florists, bakeries, caterers and venues. The topic, of course, has been covered extensively of late in the news by way of Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed into law in late March by Republican Governor Mike Pence.
Pence insisted that it was never his intent to discriminate against the LGBT community with the law, nevertheless a bill to change the original law was signed in early April.
In the CNN/ORC Poll, most Democrats (70%) and independents (60%) say wedding-related businesses should be legally required to sell goods and services to same-sex couples just as they would different-sex couples. Republicans, on the other hand, are equally as adamant in the opposite direction with 67% saying religious reasons are a valid justification for refusing service.
Even among conservative Republicans, however, the majority of the younger voters in the polling sample (56 percent) felt that denial of service to same-sex couples was wrong. This is a significant number which Republicans will likely consider when nominating a candidate for President.
Both polls were conducted from April 16-19 and canvassed via phone, questioning those with land lines as well as cell phones. The sample size was 1018 people with a margin of error at plus or minus 3 percent.
