AUSTIN (KXAN) — Seven in 10 Americans say they support same-sex marriages — the highest number ever, a study from the Public Religion Research Institute finds.
The majority (70%) of Americans support allowing LGBTQ couples to marry legally, as opposed to the 28% who oppose it, the survey shows.
Politically, the majority of Democrats (80%) and 50% of Republicans support same-sex marriage.
Majorities of every major religious group support marriage equality, PRRI says.
That includes support from 79% of white mainline Protestants, 78% of Hispanic Catholics, 72% of members of non-Christian religious groups, 68% of Hispanic Protestants, 67% of white Catholics, 57% of Black Protestants, and 56% of members of other Christian religious groups
The strongest opposition of same-sex marriage within religious communities comes from white evangelical Protestants, the study finds, with 63% opposing allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in the U.S. since the Supreme Court ruled in the landmark civil rights case Obergfell v. Hodges in 2015. The 5-4 ruling currently requires all 50 states to perform and recognize same-sex marriages with the same rights and conditions of opposite-sex marriages.
The recent nomination of conservative Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court has led civil rights advocates and LGBTQ community members to fear her confirmation — which could come as early as Monday — could overturn Obergfell.
During her hearings earlier this month, Barrett appeared to evade giving substantive answers regarding the case, in addition to others regarding LGBTQ rights.
“She refused to say whether the landmark case Lawrence v. Texas [decriminalizing homosexual intimacy] was correctly decided,” said Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David. “She sidestepped questions about preserving LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections. And she refused to denounce prior writings and statements that, if implemented through the court, could result in a systematic regression of LGBTQ rights.”
One day after the 2020 Presidential Election, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a Philadelphia case regarding city officials’ ending a contract with Catholic Social Services because the organization said it would not take applications from same-sex couples.