Poll Finds More Oppose Gay Marriage

59% against it, up 6 points since July

Nov. 18, 2003
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON, — More Americans are opposed to gay marriage, according to a new poll that also found the public is evenly divided on whether gays and lesbians can change their sexual orientation. White evangelicals are the most likely to think homosexuals can change their ways, according to the poll examining attitudes about homosexuality.
 
Most Americans, 55 percent, say they feel that homosexuality is a sin, while 33 percent disagree.

“EVANGELICALS ARE far more likely to say homosexuals can change, Catholics and mainline Protestants fall in the middle and more secular people are most likely to say they cannot change,” said Scott Keeter, a pollster with the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

The survey reinforced the finding that religious attitudes sharply affect feelings on gays and gay behavior.

Mass. gay marriage ban overturned

Those with a high level of religious commitment oppose gay marriage by 80 percent to 12 percent.

The poll also found that:

Opposition to gay marriage has grown since midsummer, with 32 percent favoring it and 59 percent opposing it. In July, 53 percent said they opposed gay marriage.

Political attitudes sharply affected beliefs about gay marriage. Four in five of those who say they would vote to re-elect President Bush oppose gay marriage, while those who prefer that a Democrat win the presidency are evenly split on the question.

Younger adults were far more likely to say they favor gay marriage, and those between ages 20 and 30 were about evenly split on favoring or opposing it. Opposition grew steadily as people’s age increased. Among those in their 60s and 70s, opponents outnumber supporters by more than four to one.

Americans with college degrees were closely divided on the question of gay marriage, with 49 percent opposed and 44 percent in favor of allowing that option.

The public has moved toward widespread opposition against discrimination generally against homosexuals, despite the opposition to gay marriage.

Most Americans, 55 percent, say they feel that homosexuality is a sin, while 33 percent disagree. Nine in 10 highly committed white evangelicals and nearly three-quarters of black Protestants say homosexual behavior is sinful.

The poll of 1,515 adults was taken Oct. 15-19 by the Pew Research Center on behalf of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The full results are online at www.pewforum.org.

http://msnbc.com/news/995040.asp