Sixty-four percent of Americans favor gay marriage, a new Gallup poll revealed, and it represents the highest level of support, topping last year's 61 percent, Gallup noted.
Here are the survey's highlights:
- 47 percent of Republicans support gay marriage.
- 74 percent of Democrats favor same-sex marriage.
- 71 percent of independents back gay marriage.
"Americans' support for same-sex marriage has more than doubled since Gallup first polled on the issue in 1996, when 27 percent said it should be recognized as valid by the law," the polling organization said in its report.
"In 2004 — weeks before gay weddings took place in Massachusetts after it became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage — less than half of Americans (42 percent) felt such unions should be legally valid.
"In recent decades, many GOP leaders adamantly opposed gay marriage, but rank-and-file Republicans' support has nearly tripled since 1996. The current 47 percent of Republicans favoring it, although not at the majority level, is the highest for this group in the more than two-decade trend."
The poll was conducted May 3-7, 2017, with a random sample of 1,011 adults. The margin of error is 4 percent points.
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