The $30 million shift in public opinion

A new Gallup poll reveals that acceptance of same-sex marriage in the US has flattened after more than two decades of steadily increasing support, with an ongoing decline among Republicans.

According to the poll, about 65% of US adults believe same-sex marriage should be legal, down slightly from 71% in 2022 and 2023.

The views of Democrats and independents are largely stable in the findings released Wednesday, with most in both groups saying same-sex marriage should be legal and that gay or lesbian relations are moral.

Partisan divide widens on LGBTQ+ issues

The widening partisan divide is also reflected in policy around LGBTQ+ issues across the US, particularly regarding transgender people, and a rising push in some states to ban same-sex marriage .

The downtick in support for same-sex marriage, while slight, is still striking because of how dramatically American views on the issue have shifted over the past few decades.

According to Gallup's trend data, only 27% of US adults supported legal same-sex marriage in 1996.

Shift in views on morality of same-sex relationships

Opinion about the morality of same-sex relationships followed the same pattern, with about 4 in 10 US adults saying same-sex relations were morally acceptable in 2001.

That increased nealry 30 percentage points over the next two decades.

However, the new poll also found that 62% of US adults view gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable, down from 71% in 2022.

Legislative pushback against LGBTQ+ rights

A call to overturn the 2015 Supreme Court ruling has reached the Supreme Court, invoking the words of Justice Clarence Thomas, who has called for undoing it.

Lawmakers in at least 11 states have introduced legislation for their current or most recent sessions calling on a ban on same-sex marriage, according to an Associated Press analysis of bills compiled by the.

Most didn't pick up momentum, but the Tennessee House passed a measure to allow private citizens and organizations not to recognize the unions; Idaho's House passed a resolution calling on the Supreme Court to undo the 2015 decision.