Longitudinal U.S. public opinion polls

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Trends in attitudes towards same-sex
marriage (SSM) and civil unions.

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Status of same-sex marriages (SSM) and civil unions:

As of 2010-JAN, same-sex marriages are only available in a few states of the U.S. and in about a half dozen other countries, including Canada.

SSMs were available in California during part of 2009, but the passage of Proposition 8 by an very slim majority of voters in 2008-NOV terminated new SSMs. About 20,000 existing same-sex married couples were allowed to continue being married. A lawsuit is attempting to declare Proposition 8 unconstitutional.

Some jurisdictions limit SSM to residents. Other places, like Canada, allow visitors to marry.

In addition, a few states and countries allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions, domestic partnerships, or similar arrangements. In the U.S., these couples receive some or all of the rights, privileges, and obligations that the state gives to married couples. However, they are denied over 1,050 federal benefits that are automatically given to married opposite-sex couples.

This section lists the results of many surveys into the support of, and opposition to, SSM by American adults. They are grouped by polling agency. Unfortunately, results are very dependent on the precise question asked, questions asked before the SSM query, the time of day that the subject was phoned, etc. Thus it is not meaningful to group the results by date.

Topics covered in this section:

Copyright © 2001 TO 2010  by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-JUL-30
Latest update: 2010-JAN-22
Author: B.A. Robinson

 
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