Gallup Shows Majority Support For Marriage Equality 53-45

This is big news! The Gallup Organization, the most respected polling outfit in the United States, has announced that a majority of Americans support the right of same-sex couples to be married with the same rights and responsibilities as "traditional marriages."

This year's nine-point increase in support for same-sex marriage is the largest year-to-year shift yet measured over this time period. Two-thirds of Americans were opposed to legalized same-sex marriage in 1996, with 27% in favor. By 2004, support had risen to 42% and, despite some fluctuations from year to year, stayed at roughly that level through last year.

Democrats' and Independents' Greater Acceptance Shifts the Balance

Democrats' and independents' support for legalized same-sex marriage increased this year by 13 and 10 points, respectively. Republicans' views on the issue did not change from last year. Clear majorities of both Democrats and independents now support gay marriage, 69% and 59% respectively, contrasted with 28% support among Republicans.

Majorities of moderates and liberals support gay marriage, as they did last year, contrasted with 28% of conservatives.

As Daily Kos put it, the Party that has the biggest problem with reality (Republicans) registered absolutely no change in opinion on marriage equality in the last year.

This is actually not surprising. Researchers at Harvard about implicit versus explicit bias have found that Republicans are the only group whose self-reported (explicit) bias against LGBT people is actually larger than their unconscious (implicit) bias. In other words, being homophobic or being publicly identified as homophobic actually reinforces Republicans view of their self-identity.  Thus they are more likely to publicly identify themselves with the anti-gay policy position than they truly believe.

What is so interesting about this result is that it flips the narrative on its head about whether marriage equality is "controversial" or a minority view point. Marriage equality support is a majority position. The next question is whether elected representatives will reflect this reality in the near future.