Slim Majority of Americans Support Same-Sex Marriage

Jim Burroway

September 20th, 2010

A new AP-GfK poll (PDF: 176KB/24 pages) shows that perhaps a very slim majority of Americans (52%-46%) believe that “the Federal Government (should) give legal recognition to marriages between couples of the same sex.” I score that as being a potentially slim majority because the poll’s margin of error is +/-4.5%. We’ve seen similar polls before, only to see those slim majorities vanish at the voting booths, so take this finding for what it’s worth.

Further, Americans agree (58%-38%) that “couples of the same sex (should) be entitled to the same government benefits as married couples of the opposite sex.”

Other interesting findings: A majority (56%-41%) agree that “Judges should interpret laws broadly, taking into account the broader interests of the nation,” instead of a more narrow interpretation of the law. Also, a significant majority (62%-35%) agree that “The rights of everyone should be protected, even when that means saying no to something the majority of people want to happen.” Both of these have important implications for the Prop 8 ruling in California.

And one last finding worth noting: Only 41% of Americans are confident in “Independent or citizen media, such as online blogs.” Of the 18 institutions Americans were asked to rank spanning governemnt, media, the military, religion and banks (yes, banks!), bloggers came in dead last.

Update: Timothy already covered this poll last Friday, drawing a similarly skeptical conclusion as I did on the first question. Unfortunately, this was a long weekend for me and I forgot he already covered it. No wonder Americans look askance at bloggers.

Seraphiel

September 20th, 2010

Which bloggers?

They don’t seem to have specified. Some blogs are more reliable than others, and the pollster apparently failed to comprehend that, or just didn’t care.

It’s like asking if someone trusts “magazines.” Well, which ones? Time? Newsweek? (No, and no) The Nation? Mother Jones? Southern Living? Tiger Beat?

It’s a tremendously stupid (and pointless) question.

Ben in Oakland

September 20th, 2010

“a very slim majority of Americans (52%-46%) believe that “the Federal Government (should) give legal recognition to marriages between couples of the same sex.””

More importantly, this question is aobut what the Feds should do, not what states should do. Marriage or more or less a state matter.

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