Gay marriage may be legal in Alabama, but it's still not popular.

In fact, the idea has the lowest level of support in Alabama than in any other state, according to a survey released this week by the Public Religious Research Institute. The poll indicates that 32 percent of Alabamians favor legalizing same-sex marriage. Nearly the same portion, 33 percent, strongly oppose it, with a solid majority overall against it.

That compares with 54 percent of all Americans who favor allowing gays to marry.

The data, drawn from about 40,000 interviews nationwide over 40 weeks in 2014, will be included in the forthcoming American Values Atlas.

"Alabama remains staunchly opposed to same sex marriage," said Daniel Cox, the research director of the Public Religious Research Institute. "No other state registers a lower level of support."

Support for same-sex marriage was weakest among Republicans and older voters. Just 23 percent of Alabama Republicans - compared with 37 percent of independents and 41 percent of Democrats - supported gay marriage.

White evangelicals were more likely to oppose gay marriage, but a majority of black Protestants also were against it.

Overall, the results suggest that support for same-sex marriage has risen somewhat since 81 percent of voters backed a measure to codify the state's ban on the practice in the state constitution in 2006.

Shannon Minter, legal director of the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights, predicted that support will grow now that same-sex marriage is legal in the Heart of Dixie. That has been the pattern of states following the start of legalized gay marriage, he said.

"That inevitably always builds more public support," he said. "I don't think there's anything different or unique about Alabama in that regard."

Lane Galbraith, director of the LGBT Wave of Change, said the survey results show why protection from the courts is necessary.

"It's a double-edged sword," he said. "Public opinion is a good thing. But when you take a seat, and you're not serving everyone, that's a huge issue."

But he, too, said legal marriages will help people see there is nothing to fear. "We're a very visible community. And if you don't understand, call us," he said.

Opponents see vindication

Opponents of same-sex marriage, however, view the poll as vindication.

"You got the people in Alabama (who have) core beliefs that marriage is something that even predates this country," said Dean Young, a former congressional candidate and longtime critic of the gay marriage movement. "It's not natural. It's not right. And it never will be."

Young, who has close ties to Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, said media organizations have done everything they can to push gay marriage. "Obviously, that's not working," he said.

Young criticized U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. "Ginny" Granade, whose ruling last month struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

"She's not the one who defines marriage," he said. "And neither does the Supreme Court."

Cox, of the polling organization, said it is difficult to predict whether court rulings in favor of gay marriage increases support. He said people are far more likely to support gay marriage if they have a positive relationship with someone who is gay. In 1993, 22 percent of Americans supported such a relationship; in 2013, it was 65 percent.

One of the reasons why Alabamians remain so strongly opposed likely is that the state has among the highest rates of regular churchgoers, Cox said. He said that three-quarters of people who regularly attend church say that most members of their congregation opposed gay marriage. That likely pushes people on the fence against it, he said.

And Alabama has a relatively high percentage of folks who go to church - 6 in 10.

"There's a strong evangelical presence in Alabama," he said.

Generation gap

For same-sex marriage proponents, one piece of encouraging news form the survey is young people. Among people ages 18 to 34, the so-called millennial generation, a plurality of 48 percent in Alabama support gay marriage.

Young dismissed the importance of those results.

"The longer they live, the wiser they get," he said. "You make a whole lot of mistakes when you're younger."

He compared the intervention of the federal judiciary into the gay marriage debate to the Supreme Court's 1973 decision legalizing abortion. "That's exactly what they did in Roe v. Wade," he said.

Cox, however, said the issues have played out differently. Public opinion on abortion has not changed significantly over the past four decades, and the gap between young and old is small. On gay marriage, he said, younger adults are not likely to change their minds when they get older.

That means at some point, it will be a nonissue even in conservative states like Alabama, he predicted.

"It's going to change slowly," he said." It's generational change."

Updated on Feb. 13 to correct inaccurate data in some of the states on the map.