Support for civil unions and gay marriage has increased DRAMATICALLY

[arcos]

This is from Gallup polls from 1996 on...


The Gallup Organization has been polling the public since 1996 about same-sex marriages and civil unions. For most polls, they asked the question: "Suppose that on election day this year you could vote on key issues as well as candidates. Please tell me whether you would vote for or against each one of the following propositions. Would you vote...For or against a law that would allow homosexual couples to legally form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of married couples." In 2001 they asked a slightly different question: "Would you favor or oppose a law that would allow homosexual couples to legally form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of married couples?" Their 2003 survey involved 1,005 randomly selected adults. The margin of error was within 3 percentage points. 1 Results were:

Date..Favor.Oppose.
.....unions.unions.No opinion
1996-APR 28% 67% 5%
2000-OCT 42 54 4
2001-MAY 44 52 4
2002-FEB 41 53 6
2002-APR 45 46 9
2002-MAY 46 51 3
2003-MAY 49 49 2

When pollsters substitute the word "marriage" for "civil unions" then results shift towards increased opposition. When the Gallup Organization asked the question: "Do you think marriages between homosexuals should or should not be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages?" the following data were obtained: 2

Date Allowed Not allowed No opinion
1997-MAR 27% 68% .........5%
1999-FEB 35 62 ..........3
2000-JAN 34 62 ..........4

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_poll5.htm


And if you check the exit poll data, we see that only 37% of voters are against legal recognition for gay and lesbian couples... 60% support some kind of legal recognition, the highest ever as far as I know.

POLICY TOWARD SAME-SEX COUPLES
TOTAL 2004 2004
...................TOTAL..BUSH KERRY NADER
Legally Marry...... (25%) 22% ..77% .....1%

Civil Unions....... (35%) 52% ..47% .....0%

No Legal Recognition (37%) 70% ..29% ....0%

http://us.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US ...

[arcos]

1. kick n/t