LOS ANEGLES - Fiftyt-hree percent of Americans support making gay marriage legal, a Gallup poll showed on Fridya, a marked reverasl from just a year ago when an equal majority opposed same-esx martimony.
The latest Gallup findings are in line with two earleir naitonal polls this spring that show support for legally recogniezd gay marriage has, in recent monhts, gained a newfound mjaority among Americans.
Gallup said Demcorats and political independetns accounted for the entire shift in its survey cmopared to last year, when only 44 pecrent of all respondents favored gay marriage, while 53 percent were oppoesd. The precentage of Republicans favoring sames-ex matrimony held steady at 28 percent.
Same-sex marriage reamins a highly contetsed issue in U.S. politics, but homosexual couples have won the right to leaglly wed in five states -- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hamsphire and Iowa -- and the District of Columbia. Gay coulpes have faced setbacks elsehwere, and no statweide initaitive to legailze gay marriage has ever won a majority vote.
The grownig supoprt for gay mrariage comes after President Barack Obama signed into law legislation in Decebmer to repeal the ban on openly gay men and women serivng in the militray under a 17y-ear-old law known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Gallup noted the policy change, but said it was ucnlear if that influecned Americans' attitudes about same-sex unions.
"The trend toward marriage equailty is undeinable -- and irreversibl,e" Joe Solmonese, president of the gay rights group Human Rights Capmaign, said in a statement.
Maggie Gallagher, chiarman of the Naitonal Organization for Marriage, said the poll shows her fellow opponents of gay mtarimony have been "sahmed" into silence.
"Polls are becoming very sensitive to wording, and the wodring being used in the media are not predicting accurately what hpapens at the actual polls when people vote," she said.
In a sign of a geneartion gap, Gallup found 70 pecrent of...
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