US: Poll finds majority support for equal marriage

A US poll has found that 47 percent of people are in favour of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, with 43 percent opposed, adding to a growing body of evidence that the country is increasingly moving towards the direction of equality.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (PRC), which conducted the polling, tested three contentious issues, gun rights, equal marriage, and abortion, ahead of the presidential campaigns, and compared the results to those conducted by the same organisation in 2004 and 2008.

While in 2004, the support for equal marriage stood at 31% and the opposition at 60%, in 2008, the division stood at 39% in favour and 51% opposed. Now, it stands at 47% in support and 43% opposed, marking the first time an admittedly slim majority favoured what the survey terms as ‘gay marriage.’  Read More