WASHINGTON, D.C. — A decade after the Supreme Court’s milestone Obergefell v. Hodges ruling declared same-sex marriage a national right in the U.S., a steady 68% of Americans support it.
Since 2021, the percentage of U.S. adults who think marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized with the same rights as traditional marriages has ranged from 68% to 71% (the trend high in 2022 and 2023). Yet, this stability in Americans’ backing for same-sex marriage masks shifts in partisans’ views over the same period. Democrats’ support has risen to 88%, the record high for this group by one percentage point. Independents’ backing for same-sex marriage has been relatively stable in recent years and currently stands at 76%, one point shy of the record high.
At the same time, Republicans’ support, which peaked at 55% in 2021 and 2022, has gradually edged down to 41%, the lowest point since 2016 after the Obergefell decision.
The current 47-point gap between Republicans and Democrats is the largest since Gallup first began tracking this measure 29 years ago.
Public backing for legalized same-sex marriage was low in Gallup’s first reading in 1996, with 27% support from Americans. By 2004, 42% were in favor, and in 2011, support reached the majority level for the first time, where it has remained since late 2012. A year after the Obergefell decision, in 2016, public support increased to 61%, and it has been above that level since.
Throughout the trend, Democrats have been more supportive than Republicans of same-sex unions, with independents’ views closer to Democrats’. More than half of Democrats have backed legal recognition of same-sex unions since 2004, and independents have since 2011. Support among both groups has since expanded to larger majorities. Republican support has only reached the majority level twice, with 55% readings in 2021 and 2022. It has since been on the decline.
Consistent Majority of U.S. Adults Say Same-Sex Relations Are Morally Acceptable
Gallup’s May 1-18 Values and Beliefs poll also finds that 64% of Americans consider gay or lesbian relations to be morally acceptable. This is the third identical reading in as many years and is down from the high point in the trend, 71%, in 2022. Majorities of Americans have considered same-sex relations to be morally acceptable since 2010.
As with their views of same-sex marriage, partisans’ attitudes have shifted in opposite directions in recent years, and the gap between Democrats’ and Republicans’ acceptance has widened to its largest point. Currently, 86% of Democrats (a new high by one point) and 38% of Republicans (the lowest reading for the group since 2012) say gay or lesbian relations are morally acceptable. After reaching a high of 56% in 2022, Republicans’ views of same-sex relations as morally acceptable have steadily declined.
Independents’ views of gay or lesbian relations as morally acceptable have been closer to Democrats’ over the course of the trend, but they have been more stable in recent years than Democrats’ and Republicans’. The latest poll finds 69% of independents saying same-sex relations are morally acceptable.
Majorities in Most Demographic Subgroups Back Same-Sex Marriage, Relations
Majorities of U.S. adults in most demographic subgroups think same-sex marriage should be legal and say same-sex relations are morally acceptable. However, those who attend religious services at least weekly — a group that is more Republican — are an exception. One-third of these frequent churchgoers support same-sex marriage, while 24% of them consider gay or lesbian relations as morally acceptable.
Additionally, opinions about same-sex marriage and the morality of same-sex relations vary by gender, age and education, with women, younger adults and college graduates more supportive than men, older Americans and those without a college degree.
Bottom Line
Ten years after the Supreme Court established same-sex marriage as a constitutional right, national support remains strong and steady at 68%. However, this ostensible stability masks deepening partisan divides. Although Democrats’ and independents’ support continues to rise or hold steady, Republicans’ support — which initially grew in the years following the Obergefell decision — has fallen each of the past three years. The moral acceptability of same-sex relations shows a similar pattern.
Despite the stable national backing for same-sex marriage and relations, the widening political divide suggests potential vulnerabilities in the durability of LGBTQ+ rights. In 2022, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that the high court “should reconsider” its past rulings, including those on same-sex relationships and marriage. Since then, Republican lawmakers in some states have introduced resolutions asking the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell. During his second term, President Donald Trump has implemented policies that significantly roll back LGBTQ+ protections, particularly affecting transgender individuals. These occurrences suggest that same-sex marriage in the U.S. could face renewed legal and political challenges.
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