American Foundation for Equal Rights

Marriage News Blog

Marriage Equality Is a Mainstream Value (Infographic)

Over a dozen national polls have shown that a majority of Americans support marriage equality for gay and lesbian Americans. But what does that mean? The Center for American Progress has done an excellent job summarizing and analyzing recent polling.

Their findings: We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time:

In addition to overall majority support for marriage equality, these polls show that the intensity of that support has also substantially increased. In years past, support for marriage equality has suffered from the so-called “enthusiasm gap.” Opponents of equal marriage felt more strongly about the issue than its supporters. In 2004, for example, 52 percent strongly opposed marriage equality, with only 18 percent voicing strong support for marriage equality.

Support is growing especially in younger people, ages 18-34, who support marriage equality by a whopping 74%, though there has even been a 10 point shift of people over 64 since 2009. As CAP points out:

In fact every single age group has seen a positive change in favor of marriage equality over the past two years, including older Americans.

Their report also delves into support in communities of color, gender, faith and party affiliation.

Check out the great infographic CAP created and its issue brief, which discusses the numbers in greater detail.

Topics: Blog, Polling