Support for same-sex relationships in the U.S. has plateaued among some groups and even declined among others.
By Aaron Earls
What was recently cast as inevitable—full cultural acceptance of same-sex marriage in the United States—may no longer even be probable.
New research suggests support for gay and lesbian relationships has reached a ceiling leading to a plateau among some groups and even a decline among others.
According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who say marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized as valid with the same rights as traditional marriage remains at an all-time high (71%), but it remains statistically unchanged over the last three years after steadily climbing from 27% in 1996.
Currently, weekly churchgoers (41%) are one of only two subgroups in which a majority do not support same-sex marriage. As it has among other groups, support among weekly churchgoers has risen over the past two decades. Since 2018, however, the increase has stalled between 40% and 44%.
Those who attend church less frequently are more likely to say they support same-sex marriage. Around 2 in 3 of those who attend church less than weekly but at least monthly (67%) say they back gay marriage. For those who attend less often, 83% favor equal rights and recognition for such relationships.
Widespread plateaued support
The plateauing of support, especially among regular churchgoers and evangelicals, is a trend that extends across polling groups and related questions.
In 1988, 18% of Americans agreed “homosexual couples should have the right to marry one another,” according to the General Social Survey (GSS). The percentage supporting same-sex marriage doubled to 37% by 2004. A majority (57%) backed those marriage rights by 2014. Four years later, more than 2 in 3 (68%) were in favor.
In recent years, however, support has stopped growing. In 2021, 64% favored same sex-marriage recognition, while 67% backed it in 2022.
Among evangelicals, support briefly climbed above 40% in 2018 but dropped back below in 2021. Similarly, among those who attend church weekly or more, the percentage who favor same-sex marriage topped 40% in 2018 for the first time but support has since fallen back to around 2 in 5.
Among evangelicals, support for same-sex marriage briefly climbed above 40% in 2018 but dropped back below in 2021, according to the General Social Survey. Share on XAccording to the GSS, while same-sex marriage is higher among other religious groups and church attendance frequencies, support is leveling out among those groups as well. The rapid increase has collided with a solid resistant group that exists across the population but especially among evangelicals and weekly churchgoers.
Questions of morality
Additionally, Gallup found a substantial decrease in the percentage of Americans who say same-sex relations are morally acceptable.
The percentage of those who see nothing morally wrong with gay or lesbian relations had risen steadily since 2001 when 40% saw it as moral. By 2010, a majority of Americans (52%) said it was morally acceptable. Support reached a high of 71% in 2022 before dropping down to 64% this year.
64% of Americans say same-sex relations are morally acceptable, down seven points from 2022, according to Gallup. Share on XThe 7-point drop from 2022 to 2023 is the largest change among any topic in Gallup’s morality survey this year. That is also the largest drop recorded among questions regarding support for gay or lesbian relations. Now, a full third of Americans (33%) say such relations are morally wrong, the highest percentage in the past four years.
For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.
