US poll: Drop in support for same-sex marriage may be ‘anomaly’
Analysts have warned that a new survey which found that support for same-sex marriage had dropped by five percentile points may just ben an “anomaly”.
The Pew Research Center poll on Monday revealed that support for same-sex marriage had dropped by about 5% down to 49%.
Previous polls have found support for same-sex marriage up to 54%, a percentage which has gradually been increasing over the past two decades.
The results were published by Pew in the survey of new polling on the role of religion in US life and politics.
It found that 49% supported same-sex marriage and 41% oppose it.
The results also came with a warning from analysts who said the results may have just been an anomaly, but that it was too early to carry any significance.
“It is too early to know if this modest decline is an anomaly or the beginning of a reversal or leveling off in attitudes toward gay marriage after years of steadily increasing public acceptance,” the report said.
Results also found that 72% of respondents said religion was losing influence and that 49% also said churches and other religious groups should be more active in politics.
Over half of Republican respondents said they did not think their party was doing a good job at representing their views on same-sex marriage. Most said they thought the party was becoming too liberal.
Pew surveyed 2,002 adults between 2 and 9 September .The margin of error is 2.5% for the sample.
