Most Latinos back gay marriage, poll says

For the first time, more than half of Latinos in the United States support same-sex marriage, according to a poll released Thursday. The poll also found that about 7 in 10 registered Latino voters support President Obama.

The nationwide survey, a joint effort of the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, found that 52 percent of Latinos support same-sex marriage, while 34 percent oppose it.

In 2006, the poll found 31 percent support and 56 percent opposition, and in 2009, 34 percent of Latinos supported such marriages while 44 percent were opposed.

Greg Smith, a senior researcher at the Pew Forum, said more Latinos favoring same-sex marriage reflects the steadily increasing support for such marriages among all Americans.

"The broader shifts we've seen in the public as a whole are being seen among the Latino community," he said.

He added that it was not clear when exactly support among Latinos for same-sex marriage crossed 50 percent because Pew's last survey on the topic was done in 2009.

Majorities of Hispanic Catholics (54 percent) and religiously unaffiliated Latinos (71 percent) said they favor same-sex marriage, while only 25 percent of evangelical Latinos said they support it, compared with 66 percent of them who opposed it. Smith said these numbers are similar to the support levels of white Catholics and evangelicals.

Latinos of different religions had varying levels of support for Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, the survey found.

Among Latino Catholics, 73 percent said they supported Obama and 19 percent Romney. Religiously unaffiliated Latinos overwhelmingly favor Obama over Romney, 82 to 7 percent. But only 50 percent of evangelical Latinos favor Obama, compared with 39 percent who support Romney.