Most in U.S. now support same-sex marriage

WASHINGTON – In the late 1980s, support for gay marriage was essentially unheard of in America. Just a quarter century later, it’s now favored by a clear majority of Americans.

That dramatic shift in opinion is among the fastest changes ever measured by the General Social Survey, a comprehensive and widely respected survey that has measured trends on a huge array of American attitudes for more than four decades.

Support for a right of same-sex couples to marry has risen 8 percentage points in the past two years and jumped 45 points since the question was first asked in 1988, when only 11 percent of Americans said they agreed with the idea. The survey now finds that only a third of Americans are opposed to gay marriage.

The largest shift in support since 2012 has come among Republicans, just under half of whom – 45 percent – now support marriage rights for same-sex couples. That’s a jump of 14 percentage points since 2012.

“Many things don’t change a lot. Most things change very slowly,” said Tom W. Smith, director of the General Social Survey. “This is one of the most impressive changes we’ve measured.”

The General Social Survey is conducted by NORC, an independent research organization based at the University of Chicago. It is a highly regarded source of data about social trends because of its long-running and comprehensive set of questions about the demographics and attitudes of the American public.

Data from the 2014 survey was released this week, and an analysis of its findings on gay marriage was conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the General Social Survey.

As support for same-sex marriage has risen, the survey found, so has acceptance for gays and lesbians and for their relationships. Although 4 in 10 Americans still say sexual relationships between members of the same sex are always wrong, that’s half as many as said so in 1987. And while in 1976 only about half of Americans – 53 percent – said a gay person should be allowed to teach at a college or university, 88 percent now say that is all right.

The release of the 2014 survey comes as federal courts have rapidly increased the number of states where same-sex couples can legally marry, and as marriages licenses are now being issued in at least 36 states. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected before July to rule on whether states can legally exclude gay and lesbian couples from marrying.

The survey found that 56 percent of Americans overall now agree that gay and lesbian couples should have the right to get married.