Yet another poll detects a major shift in American attitudes on gay marriage. And this one provides some interesting breakdowns that show just how major this shift is — and some interesting facts on a de facto coalition emerging that opposes it:
Fifty-three percent of Americans now support same-sex marriage, up from 32 percent a decade ago, according to a recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, which said the shift in support is “transforming the American religious landscape.”
PRRI found majorities of Jewish Americans (83 percent), white mainline Protestants (62 percent), white Catholics (58 percent) and Hispanic Catholics (56 percent) supporting same-sex marriage. They survey also found 73 percent of religiously unaffiliated Americans favor gay marriage.
By contrast, the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, nonpartisan research group found 59 percent of black Protestants and 69 percent of white evangelical Protestants oppose same-sex marriage.
But the issue divides Hispanic Protestants, with 46 percent in favor and 49 percent opposed.
PRRI’s chief executive officer Robert P. Jones sees the changes as evidence of a national shift, particularly among younger evangelical Protestants, in attitudes on homosexuality overall. Moreover, PRRI’s survey suggests that hardline attitudes on the matter may be driving some of those between ages 18 and 33 away from faith altogether.
It confirms a major theme in American political and social issues: the generational change. And, in political terms, the party that is on the side of the generational attitudinal change is likely to be the party that’ll win more and more elections.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.