A new Gallup poll conducted in May shows the support for same-sex marriage in the U.S. is at a record-high of 70% among Americans.
Gallup said in a press release Tuesday that the latest figure marks an increase of 10% since 2015 when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay and lesbian marriages.
Support on the issue has been trending upward for a quarter of a century now and has steadily risen.
Gallup
Only 27% of Americans supported legal recognition of gay marriages in 1996 when the organization first asked the public the question. Eventually, support reached the majority level for the first time in 2011.
In its findings, Gallup noted a shift in support among Republicans, a party that has consistently been opposed to same-sex marriage. For the first time, a majority of Americans in the GOP showed support on the issue, 55% of them.
“The latest increase in support among all Americans is driven largely by changes in Republicans' views,” Gallup wrote.
Currently, Gallup says 83% of Democrats support same-sex marriage, which is on par with the level of support recorded over the past few years, suggesting support may have reached a ceiling for the group, at least for now.
Meanwhile, Gallup says older U.S. adults, who were once holdouts in support for gay marriage, now come down on the same side of the issue as young adults.
“Gallup's trend illustrates that Americans' views can shift in a relatively short time span, creating a new consensus – even as polarization on other measures intensifies,” wrote Gallup.
