Survey: Partisan Divide Over Gay Marriage Widens - U.S. News
Support for same-sex marriage rose among voters of all political stripes in recent years, but it surged so much among Democrats that the partisan divide on the issue is wider than ever, according to a national survey released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.
Sixty-five percent of Democrats are now favor same-sex marriage, compared to 50 percent four years ago, while 24 percent of Republicans are in support, versus 19 percent in 2008, the survey found. The gap between the two major parties stands at 41 percentage points.
“The latest national survey … finds that the partisan divide over gay marriage continues to widen,” the forum said. The survey also found that 51 percent of independents now favor gay marriage, seven percentage points more than 2008.
President Barack Obama’s announcement in May that he supported same-sex marriage — the first American president to do so — “rallied the Democratic base,” especially liberal Democrats, to the issue, though its overall impact on public opinion has been limited, the forum said.