Fifty-four percent of Americans reported favoring allowing legal gay marriage. Poll: Young GOP OK with gays

Young adults have long led the charge in support of gay marriage, and a new poll suggests young Republicans are no exception.

Sixty-one percent of Republican-leaning adults ages 18-29 say they favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, according to a Pew Research Center study released Monday. That number sharply contrasts the views of the party’s older members, for whom gay marriage support drops off sharply at each age increment.


Just 27 percent of Republican respondents over the age of 50 said they supported the practice, and party-wide support sits 15 percent below the national average.

( PHOTOS: Where same-sex couples can wed)

In a record high for Pew surveys, 54 percent of Americans reported favoring allowing legal gay marriage. Among Democrats that number is much higher, 69 percent.

The young Republicans surveyed also leaned in support of gay and lesbian couples raising children, with just 18 percent saying it’s bad for society. On this topic, young Republicans appeared more liberal than older Democrats, who opposed the gay couples raising children at 32 percent among respondents over the age of 65.

The Pew survey was conducted Feb. 14-23.

This article tagged under: Republicans

Gay Marriage