Gallup Poll Finds Republican Same-Sex Marriage Support at 37%

A new Gallup survey shows overall American support for legal same-sex marriage slipping for the first time in years, driven almost entirely by a steep drop among Republicans. The May poll found 65 percent of U.S. adults saying such marriages should be legal, down from 71 percent in both 2022 and 2023. Among Republicans the figure fell to 37 percent, reversing gains that had built steadily since the Supreme Court ruling a decade earlier.

Gallup noted that Democratic and independent views stayed largely unchanged, with majorities in both groups continuing to back legal recognition. The shift among Republicans returned their support to levels last seen around 2015. The same survey recorded only 35 percent of Republicans describing gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable.

The decline coincides with a broader national debate over the rapid expansion of policies tied to gender and sexuality in schools, sports, medicine, and government. Many Republicans point to the aggressive push on transgender issues, including medical interventions for minors and males competing in female categories, as the main reason their earlier tolerance has cooled. Pollster Jeffrey Jones of Gallup said the 2024 campaign appeared to accelerate the change, as voters weighed cultural priorities alongside economic concerns.

Long-term Gallup data shows same-sex marriage support rose from 27 percent in 1996 to a peak near 70 percent a few years ago. That growth occurred while the issue remained focused on adult relationships between two people of the same sex. Once the movement broadened to include demands for puberty blockers, surgical alterations, and legal redefinition of sex itself, resistance hardened in conservative circles. The current poll suggests that resistance is now measurable.

The Trump administration has moved to reverse several prior federal policies in this area, ending diversity mandates and restricting certain transgender-related changes to documents, sports, and medical access. Supporters argue these steps restore boundaries that earlier court decisions never addressed. Critics from advocacy groups claim the moves threaten settled law, though the Supreme Court declined last year to revisit the core 2015 marriage ruling.

Public opinion outside the Republican coalition has not mirrored the drop. Democrats remain near 80 percent in favor of legal same-sex marriage, and independents hold steady above 60 percent. The partisan split has therefore widened, reflecting deeper divisions over how far government and institutions should go in reshaping longstanding definitions of family, sex, and childhood.

The survey also tracked views on the morality of same-sex relations, which followed a similar pattern of overall plateau and Republican retreat. Two decades of rising acceptance appear to have stalled as voters absorb the downstream effects of related policies on women’s spaces, youth medical records, and parental authority. Gallup’s findings arrive at a moment when several states continue to debate limits on those policies, and the national conversation shows little sign of returning to the narrower question of adult marriage alone.