Gallup Poll Finds Republican Same-Sex Marriage Support at 37%
Cover image from independent.co.uk, which was analyzed for this article
A new survey shows an 18-point decline in GOP backing for same-sex marriage since 2022, part of broader cooling on LGBTQ+ issues. Polls also indicate shifting American attitudes on transgender policies.
PoliticalOS
Wednesday, June 3, 2026 — Politics
National support for same-sex marriage has leveled off at 65 percent after years of growth, driven entirely by an 18-point drop among Republicans to 37 percent. The legal status of such marriages remains unchanged under the 2015 Supreme Court ruling, yet state-level challenges continue on both sides.
What outlets missed
Gallup placed the 2026 Republican figure near its 2016 level and framed the result as a widening party divide rather than an abrupt collapse. No major outlet supplied the full historical table showing Republican support rising from 22 percent in 2010 to 44 percent in 2021 before the recent drop. Legislative efforts to protect same-sex marriage in roughly the same number of states as those seeking bans received only passing mention.
Public acceptance of same-sex marriage in the United States has stopped rising after two decades of steady gains. A Gallup survey released in early June 2026 recorded 65 percent of adults saying such marriages should be legal, down from 71 percent in both 2022 and 2023. The entire national decline traces to one group.
Republican support fell to 37 percent. Democratic and independent support stayed essentially unchanged, leaving a record partisan gap. Gallup has tracked the question since 1996, when national support stood at 27 percent. The figure climbed almost without interruption until the recent plateau.
The same survey showed 62 percent of adults now view gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable, down from 71 percent three years earlier. Among Republicans that moral-acceptance number reached 35 percent. Gallup senior editor Jeffrey Jones noted that Republican support had risen in parallel with the national trend before reversing direction after 2022.
Same-sex marriage has remained legal nationwide under the 2015 Obergefell decision. The Supreme Court declined without comment to revisit the ruling when a challenge reached it last year. More than 800,000 same-sex couples were married as of 2025, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA.
State legislatures have continued to act in both directions. Bills to ban same-sex marriage advanced in at least two chambers during the most recent sessions, while a comparable number of states considered measures to codify protections. The Southern Baptist Convention voted last year to call for reversal of the Obergefell precedent.
Gallup conducted the poll by telephone May 1-17 among 1,001 adults, producing a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
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