June 1 (UPI) — Sixty-seven percent of U.S. adults said they believe same-sex couples should be recognized by law as valid, matching the record high, Gallup said Monday.
The same percent agreed that same-sex couples should be recognized as valid in 2018 before dipping to 63 percent last year. The data are from Gallup’s annual Value and Belief poll conducted from May 1-13.
The poll showed that 31 percent of U.S. adults believe that same-sex couples should not be recognized by law as valid, which ties for its lowest point since the survey has been done.
The survey comes on the verge of the fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision on June 26, 2015, which told states they must grant same-sex marriages and those unions must be recognized in other states.
In 1996, the percentages were essentially reversed from what they are today. At that time, only 27 percent said they believed same-sex marriages should be recognized as valid by law while 68 percent disagreed.
Opinions on same-sex marriage vary greatly by politics. Eighty-three percent of Democrats and 71 percent of independents agreed that same-sex marriage should be recognized as valid. Forty-nine percent of Republicans believe it should be recognized by law.
“Tracking Americans’ evolution on the issue [of same-sex marriage] has been a fascinating shift to observe; their changing views on this matter are one of the most notable shifts in public opinion Gallup has measured in recent decades,” Gallup said.
Same-sex marriages continue to grow along with approval. In 2017, Gallup said 10.2 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender adults in the U.S. are married to a same-sex spouse, up from 7.9 percent just before the 2015 Supreme Court decision.
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