Major shift in GOP views on same-sex marriage: report

A decade after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling affirming that the Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the same rights and responsibilities of marriage as different-sex couples, public support for marriage equality remains robust at 68 percent—ten points higher than just a month after the 2015 Obergefell decision, though slightly below the all-time high of 71 percent. While Democratic support has continued to climb, Republican backing has declined sharply.

Nearly nine in ten Democrats (88%) say marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized by law as valid, according to Gallup, but less than half that—just 41 percent—of Republicans agree. That’s a fourteen-point drop from the highest level recorded for right-wing voters, 55 percent, in 2021 and 2022.

“The current 47-point gap between Republicans and Democrats is the largest since Gallup first began tracking this measure 29 years ago,” the polling firm reported.

Asked whether they “personally believe that in general” gay or lesbian relations are “morally acceptable or morally wrong,” even fewer Republicans, just 38 percent, said they are morally acceptable. The national average is 64 percent, and the average among Democrats is 86 percent.

Diving deeper, Gallup found that a majority “of U.S. adults in most demographic subgroups think same-sex marriage should be legal and say same-sex relations are morally acceptable.”

The only subgroup listed on Gallup’s graphic where a majority disagreed are weekly church-goers, “a group that is more Republican.”

“One-third of these frequent churchgoers support same-sex marriage, while 24% of them consider gay or lesbian relations as morally acceptable.”

Gallup also delivered a warning for marriage equality supporters, noting that “the widening political divide suggests potential vulnerabilities in the durability of LGBTQ+ rights.”

“In 2022, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that the high court ‘should reconsider’ its past rulings, including those on same-sex relationships and marriage. Since then, Republican lawmakers in some states have introduced resolutions asking the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell. During his second term, President Donald Trump has implemented policies that significantly roll back LGBTQ+ protections, particularly affecting transgender individuals. These occurrences suggest that same-sex marriage in the U.S. could face renewed legal and political challenges.”