The Respect for Marriage Coalition today released a memo from Anzalone
Liszt Grove Research summarizing key findings from the first public
opinion poll of 2013 on marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. The
poll found that a growing bipartisan majority of registered voters
support marriage rights. Three-quarters of voters believe that the
freedom to marry is a constitutional right, and an even higher 83
percent believe that marriage for same-sex couples will become legal
nationwide in the next decade.
The memo is included below.
February 19, 2013
To: Interested Parties
Fr: Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
Re: Findings and Recommendations from Polling on Freedom to Marry
Recent poll results find that a strong and growing bipartisan majority
of registered voters believe that the right for Americans to marry the
person they love is both a Constitutional right and a freedom that all
Americans – including gays and lesbians -- should enjoy. An overwhelming
majority of voters of all political persuasions, including those who
personally oppose marriage equality, also believe that granting same-sex
couples the same legal right to marry as straight couples is likely to
happen: 77% believe that marriage for gays and lesbians will be legal in
the United States in “the next couple of years” and 83% believe that it
will happen in “the next 5-10 years”. This finding reflects a
double-digit increase in voters’ opinions on this issue in just two
years.
Notably, voters on both sides of the issue (those who favor marriage
equality and those who oppose it) do not feel that allowing same-sex
couples to marry will have much of an impact on them personally – 62%
believe it will either have not much impact or absolutely no impact at
all, and the vast majority of these voters (44% of the electorate)
believe it will have absolutely no impact on their lives either way.
Below, we break down the key findings from a national poll of 800
registered voters conducted from January 24-31, 2013. Where applicable,
we indicate those questions where we see an evolution on the issue in
comparison to national polling we conducted in 2011.
Key Findings:
1. Voters from all political persuasions believe that
the ability to marry the person you love is a Constitutional right of
every American.
Voters express strong support for the
notion that the ability to marry the person you love is a fundamental
freedom and Constitutional right for every American, including gays and
lesbians. Three-quarters of voters (75%) believe that it is a
Constitutional right, up from 71% in 2011. This sentiment spans across
party lines, as 91% of Democrats, 75% of Independents, and 56% of
Republican voters all believe the freedom to marry the person you love
is a Constitutional right.
Voters are firmly rooted in the notion that the ability to marry is a
right that should be provided to all people, including gay and lesbian
couples. A majority feels that to deny this is discrimination.
· Allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry says you
believe the principle of equal human dignity should apply to all people –
65% believe that this describes their feelings very or pretty well,
including 49% of voters who believe that this describes their views very well.
· The freedom to marry is a fundamental freedom that should not be denied to anyone. Nearly
two-thirds (64%) believe this describes their views towards allowing
gay and lesbian couples to legally marry very/pretty well, including
nearly half (46%) who believe it describes their views towards allowing
gay and lesbian couples very well.
· Denying gays & lesbians the right to marry is considered discrimination. 59% of voters believe this describes their view very/pretty well, 45% very well.
2. An overwhelming majority of voters -- including
majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents -- believe that
allowing same-sex couples the right to legally marry is likely to happen
regardless of their personal opinion on the issue. With
nine states now allowing same-sex couples to legally marry and more
moving in that direction, voters almost universally believe that it will
be legal nationally in the next five to ten years (83%), and 77%
believe that it will be legal nationally “in the next couple of years” –
regardless of their personal opinion on the issue. This represents a
sizeable increase since 2011 when 72% believed it would happen in the
next five to ten years, and 67% believed it would happen in “the next
couple of years.” While Democratic voters feel most strongly (82%
believe it will happen in the next couple years), huge margins of
Independents and Republicans feel the same way (73% and 70%
respectively).
3. Nearly two-thirds of voters believe that allowing same-sex couples to legally marry would not impact them. Nearly
two-thirds of voters believe that that allowing gay and lesbian couples
to legally marry would not have much impact or would have no impact on
them at all. Fifteen percent (15%)believe the impact would be positive;
only 19% of all voters believe that a ruling allowing gays and lesbians
to legally marry would have a negative impact on them.
Anzalone Liszt Grove Research conducted n=800 live telephone
interviews with registered voters nationally, including 20% of all
completes via cell phone interview. Interviews were conducted between
January 24-30, 2013. Respondents were selected at random, with
interviews apportioned geographically based on registration. Expected
margin of sampling error for these results is +/- 3.5% with a 95%
confidence level.