More than 70 percent of Americans say same-sex marriage should be legal, up from 27 percent in 1996 and matching last year’s percentage, a new Gallup News poll found.

“When Gallup first polled about same-sex marriage in 1996, barely a quarter of the public (27 percent) supported legalizing such unions. It would take another 15 years, until 2011, for support to reach the majority level,” according to the poll report. “Then in 2015, just one month before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, public support for legalizing gay marriage cracked the 60 percent level. In 2021, it reached the 70 percent mark for the first time and has been there each of the past three years.”

People gather in Washington’s Lafayette Park to see the White House illuminated with rainbow colors to mark the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to legalize same-sex marriage, June 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Gallup has found an increase across all major subgroups over time in support for same-sex marriage. The report specified that majorities of all but two key subgroups — Republicans (49 percent) and weekly church goers (41 percent) — say gay marriages should be legally recognized.

Republican support for same-sex marriage has waffled around 50 percent since 2020 and reached slim majorities in 2021 and 2022. As for weekly church goers, Gallup News found that they are also more supportive of same-sex marriage than they have been in the past, but their level of support has remained steady since 2018.

Same-sex couple Paul Festa (R) and James Harker hold their marriage license after they were married at San Francisco City Hall June 17, 2008 in San Francisco, California. Same-sex couples throughout California are rushing to get married as counties begin issuing marriage license after a State Supreme Court ruling to allow same-sex marriage. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A same-sex couple holds their marriage license after they were married at San Francisco City Hall June 17, 2008, in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Unsurprisingly, adults ages 18 to 29 (89 percent), Democrats (84 percent), and infrequent churchgoers (83 percent) are most likely to support legal same-sex marriage.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 16: Same-sex couple Amy Laker and Lauren Price kiss during their wedding ceremony on December 16, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. Lauren and Amy are the first gay couple to be legally married in Australia, after same-sex marriage was legalised on 9 December 2017. The women - who have been engaged for two years - had originally planned on having a civil union, but were granted an exemption to the 30-day notice period to make their union legally binding under the new laws. (Photo by Caroline McCredie/Getty Images)

Same-sex couple during their wedding ceremony. (Caroline McCredie/Getty Images)

“Among many groups — including older adults, Protestants and residents of the South — perspectives on gay marriage have gone from majority opposition to majority support over the course of Gallup’s trend spanning more than a quarter of a century,” according to the poll report. “But two groups remain holdouts on the issue, with Republicans evenly divided on the legality of same-sex unions and weekly churchgoers maintaining their position against it.”

The survey was conducted from May 1-24 with 1,011 adults living in the U.S. The margin of sampling error is ±4 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

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