Support For Marriage Equality Has Flattened in U.S

A new public opinion poll shows after years of steady increases, support for marriage equality in the U.S. has largely flattened out.

Pew Research Center surveys show about 61 percent of respondents support same-sex marriage, while 31 percent remain opposed. That is statistically unchanged since 2017.

But there remain positive signs for the future.

Among Millennials, 74 percent of respondents support marriage equality. In 2003, the first year Pew broke Millennials out, only 51 percent voiced support.

Comparatively, 58 percent of Generation Xers and 51 percent of Baby Boomers support marriage equality, which is actually down from 2017, when 65 percent of Generation Xers and 56 percent of Boomers sat on the right side of history.

Among those from the Silent Generation, support sits around 45 percent. That's up slightly from 41 percent in 2017.

There remain substantial differences in attitudes based on party identification and religious affiliation.

About 75 percent of Democrats favor equality, compared to 43 percent 15 years ago. About 44 percent of Republicans now support same-sex marriage, compared to 19 percent in 2004.

Among non-religious respondents, 79 percent support marriage equality. By comparison, white mainline Protestants report 66 percent support and 61 percent of Catholics say the same.

Among white evangelicals, only 29 percent support same-sex marriage and 63 remain opposed. And while Pew has not released numbers on black Protestants since 2017, they have been previously polling at a 44 percent in supporting marriage equality.

The data comes out four years after the Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land. But activists still worry on a number of legal fronts that new appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court make a body prone to reconsider legal precedent.