WASHINGTON — NBC News/ Wall Street Journal today released a national survey on marriage equality that reflects the ongoing sea change in public opinion on the issue — across a number of demographics, including party affiliation, age, and ethnicity.
“Today’s poll is yet another sign of where the country is moving – and moving at lightning speed,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “We’ve seen significant jumps in a number of respected polls over the past few years, confirming it’s a question of when, not if, we achieve full marriage equality.”
The NBC/WSJ survey showed marriage equality has strong majority backing among Democrats (up 12 points from 2009) and a plurality of Independents (up 9 points). There was a large increase in support among African Americans – 32 percent favored in 2009 to 50 percent now. And a majority in both the 18-34 and 50-64 age brackets favor marriage for gay and lesbian couples.
Overall, 49 percent of Americans support committed, loving gay and lesbian couples getting married, according to the poll, with 40 percent opposed. In 2009, support for marriage equality was at only 41 percent, with 49 percent opposed. Other recent national polls, including from CNN, Gallup, AP, register majority support for the issue.
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The poll was conducted February 29-March 3, 2012, of 800 adults, including 200 cell phone-only respondents which included GOP primary voters. The poll can be found here.