Dems Go Pro-Gay All the Way

The likely inclusion of a plank supporting marriage equality in the Democratic Party platform reflects a significant shift in opinion among Democratic voters over the last 8 years, according to a new national poll.

The latest survey by the Pew Research Center (a left leaning organization), conducted June 28 to July 9, finds that nearly two-thirds of Democrats nationwide (65 percent) favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, while just 29 percent are opposed. That finding marks a reversal from just eight years ago, when just 40 percent of Democrats approved of gay marriage and 50 percent opposed it.

Support for same-sex marriage has grown most rapidly among Democrats, according to the Pew Research poll, which also shows support has risen gradually among independents and Republicans over the last eight years. Overall, their July survey now shows slightly more support for gay marriage (48 percent) than opposition to it (44 percent).

While the new survey confirms these long-term trends, it also yields little evidence that President Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage in May has had a significant impact on public opinion on the issue beyond the Democratic base. Forty-seven percent of Americans surveyed by Pew Research in April supported same-sex marriage while 43 percent opposed it. But other polls still show a majority of Americans oppose same-sex marriage, especially among likely voters. Political Correctness also skews the poll results in favor of gay marriage, since respondents answer one way in public, but vote another in the privacy of the ballot box. See Chick's THE UNINVITED.