Longitudinal U.S. public opinion polls
on same-sex marriage and civil unions

Angus-Reid & other national polls.
Polls of high school seniors

Sponsored link.

Angus-Reid national polls: 2008:

The question asked was: "Do you think marriages between gay and lesbian couples should or should not be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages?"

The 2008-DEC poll included 1,013 randomly selected American adults between 2008 DEC-19 and DEC-21. Margin of Error is about ±3%. ₁

Other national polls on SSM:

Zogby International and Hamilton College polls of high school seniors:

Professor Dennis Gilbert and students from his public opinion polling class have conducted polls with the help of Zogby International. They sampled the opinion of one thousand randomly selected U.S. high school seniors on matters related to homosexuality, in 2001 and 2005. The margin of error is about ± 3%.

In their 2001-Spring "Gay Issues Poll" of "the class of 2001" high school students, they found:

Several factors influenced their support (or lack of support) for same-sex marriage:

Again, the last three items indicates that gays and lesbians coming out of the closet has a major affect on public opinion.

On other matters related to homosexuality:

In their 2005 "Hot Button Issues Poll" the students were given three alternatives for loving, committed same-sex couples: allowing them to marry; allowing only civil unions, and not recognizing their relationship at all -- i.e. treating them like roommates. Results were:

On related matters:

These data are important because they represent the opinions of high school students who are about to graduate and will soon be voting. In a generation or two, they will be the political leaders.

The pollsters commented:

"Approximately 20 percent of high school seniors are staunchly anti-gay -- that is, they reject both gay marriage and civil unions and hold negative attitudes toward gays, as measured by our index. Over 80 percent of antigay seniors believe that 'homosexual relations between consenting adults' should be illegal and regard gay people as 'disgusting.' Both attitudes are rare among seniors, outside this anti-gay minority. Many of our respondents thought the very notion of labeling gays 'disgusting' was laughable. Antigay seniors are typically observant and born-again Christians, who view homosexuality as a moral or religious issue."

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. "American Majority Opposes Same-Sex Marriage," Angus Reid Global Monitor, 2009-JAN-05, at: http://www.angus-reid.com/
2. Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles.
3. Princeton Survey Research Associates poll for Newsweek magazine. N = 602. Margin of error is ±4%.
4. ICR of Media PA conducted the poll which was commissioned by the Associated Press. N = 1,012. Margin of error ±3%.
5. Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles. Study was based on 269,413 freshman students at colleges and universities. Margin of error is less than ±1%
6. "Hamilton College Gay Issues Poll," Hamilton College, NY. See:  http://www.hamilton.edu/ N = 1000. Margin of error ±3%.

Copyright © 2001 TO 2010  by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-JUL-30
Latest update: 2010-JAN-21
Author: B.A. Robinson