New polls indicate a historic level of support for same-sex marriage despite looming threats against marriage equality at the Supreme Court.
Published on Monday, the Public Religion Research Institute’s American Values survey found that 70% of Americans support the freedom to marry for LGBTQ+ couples, as opposed to just 28% who believe same-sex couples should not have marriage rights. This marked a sharp increase from the last poll in 2019, when support for marriage equality was split by 62 to 33.
Nearly every single religion and political party affirmed same-sex marriage rights. Among religious groups, support was highest among white mainline Protestants (79%), followed by Latinx Roman Catholics (78%), Latinx Protestants (68%), white Catholics (67%), and Black Protestants (57%). The only group which did not voice support for the freedom to marry were white Evangelicals, who still opposed marriage equality by a wide margin: 63% to 34%.
Although Democrats (94%) and Independents (85%) were more likely to be in favor of same-sex unions, even Republicans narrowly backed the freedom to marry. Exactly 50% of conservatives support legal recognition for LGBTQ+ couples, a significant surge from 2017, when just 42% were pro-marriage equality.
The poll, which was based on a random sample of 2,538 American adults, isn’t the only survey this year to show that support for marriage equality is the highest on record. A June report from Gallup showed that 67% of respondents were in favor of the freedom to marry, five years after the Supreme Court legalized marriage equality in all 50 states. When the Gallup’s survey was first conducted in 1996, just 27% percent of Americans believed same-sex unions should be legal.
The findings are particularly notable in a month which has seen the Pope come out in favor of relationship recognition for same-sex couples and two Supreme Court justices come out against it.
Days before Pope Francis voiced his support for civil unions in a forthcoming documentary, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito signed onto an opinion stating that the Supreme Court had “created a problem that only it can fix” in its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. The judges said the decision was a “cavalier treatment of religion” which placed a “novel constitutional right over the religious liberty interests protected by the First Amendment.”
The statement signaled that Thomas and Alito potentially hope to use the appointment of conservative nominee Amy Coney Barrett to overturn marriage equality. Coney Barrett, who opposes same-sex marriage and served on the board of an anti-LGBTQ+ school, is set for a confirmation vote in the Senate on Monday, and she is likely to be approved.
Critics believe Coney Barrett’s appointment to the Supreme Court, which would tilt the bench 6-3 to the right, would imperil LGBTQ+ equality for a generation.
But if there’s any good news to be found in this ongoing battle, it’s that Americans remain widely supportive of broad protections for LGBTQ+ people. In the PRRI survey, 94% percent of Democrats, 85% of Independents, and 68% of Republicans voiced support for inclusive nondiscrimination protections like those enshrined in the Equality Act, an LGBTQ+ civil rights bill that Joe Biden supports and Donald Trump has opposed.
Earlier this summer, the Supreme Court ruled that LGBTQ+ people are entitled to workplace protections under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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