New Findings from the 2008 Faith and American Politics Study (FAPS)*

Public Religion Research released a new report on same-sex marriage that examines trends in support and provides analysis of important religious and generational divides on this issue:

To read the full report, click here.

Same-sex marriage is not a high voting priority for Americans in 2008. Among all Americans, same-sex marriage ranks last of ten issues. White evangelicals do not rank abortion or same-sex marriage in their top five most important voting issues.

Younger Americans are much more supportive of marriage equality. Almost half (46%) of young adults (age 18-34) support same-sex marriage, compared to less than a third (29%) of all Americans.

Attitudes on same-sex marriage are shifting significantly among young people. In 2006, the American Values Survey found that 37% of young adults (18-34) supported same-sex marriage. Two years later, almost half (46%) of young adults now support same-sex marriage, an increase of 9 points.

Support for same-sex marriage is significant among some young religious Americans. Among young (18-34) white mainline Protestants and Catholics, close to half (48% and 44% respectively) support same-sex marriage. Among young evangelicals (18-34), a majority favor either same-sex marriage (24%) or civil unions (28%), compared to a majority (58%) of evangelicals overall who favor no legal recognition of gay couples’ relationships.

Having close friends and family members who are gay or lesbian increases support for same-sex marriage. Among Americans who are gay or lesbian or have a close friend or family member who is gay or lesbian, nearly half (48%) say they support same-sex marriage. Among those who have more distant relationships with gay or lesbian people (i.e. acquaintance, coworker), support drops to just 30%. And among those with no relationship with a gay or lesbian person support for same-sex marriage is only 14%.

Addressing religious liberty concerns significantly increases support for same-sex marriage. When asked whether they would support allowing gay couples to marry “if the law guaranteed that no church or congregation would be required to perform marriages for gay couples,” support for legalized same-sex marriage climbed 14 points, from 29% to 43%.

Religious groups that are more likely to hear negative messages about homosexuality are far more likely to oppose same-sex marriage. White evangelicals, for example, hear much more negative messages about homosexuality than white Mainline Protestants. The difference between these two groups on support for marriage equality is stark. Nearly 6-in-10 (58%) white evangelicals say there should be no legal recognition for gay and lesbian couples, compared to only 26% of white mainline Protestants.

Religious factors accounted for two of the top five most powerful independent predictors of views on marriage equality. The top five most powerful independent predictors of support for same-sex marriage, in order of importance, were the following: relationship with a gay or lesbian person, view of the Bible, political ideology, age, and religious affiliation.

*This Faith and American Politics Survey was conducted by Public Religion Research and sponsored by Faith and Public Life. This report was sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign.