Two-thirds of likely voters in swing states support marriage equality, poll finds

Brooke Migdon
·3 min read
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Story at a glance

  • Most likely voters in swing states this year support codifying the right of same-sex couples to marry in federal law, the Human Rights Campaign said Wednesday.

  • Majority support for marriage equality was also seen across subgroups in polling from HRC, including among men, women and Christians.

  • Surveys from other organizations including Gallup this year have indicated that support for same-sex marriage in the U.S. has soared to record-high levels.

More than two-thirds of voters in congressional battleground states say same-sex couples’ right to marry should be shielded by federal legislation, according to new polling data from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a national LGBTQ+ rights group.

Sixty-four percent of likely voters in 11 swing states — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — in a mid-August survey said they would back a law “protecting the national right to same-sex marriage,” the HRC said Wednesday.

Similar polling from other organizations has suggested support for marriage equality among American voters is at an all-time high. More than 71 percent in a recent Gallup poll said same-sex marriage should be recognized by the law as valid. In a July Politico and Morning Consult poll, nearly 60 percent of voters said the right to same-sex marriage should be shielded by federal legislation.

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In July, House lawmakers passed the Respect for Marriage Act — federal legislation that would require all states to legally recognize same-sex and interracial unions and officially repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) — with 47 Republicans joining all Democrats in supporting the measure.

The bill is expected to come up for a vote in the 50-50 Senate sometime this month, but it is uncertain whether the legislation will have sufficient Republican support to make it to President Biden’s desk, where it will likely be signed into law.

At 77 percent, support for federal legislation that enshrines the right to same-sex marriage is highest among voters in Colorado, where Democrat Jared Polis serves as the nation’s first openly gay governor, according to Wednesday’s HRC data. Support is also high in Michigan, where Attorney General Dana Nessel is one of the only openly gay women to hold the position.

Majority support for marriage equality exists across most subgroups, the HRC said, including among men (58 percent), women (69 percent) and Christians (55 percent).

“Marriage equality has been nothing but positive, both for the LGBTQ+ community and for our society as a whole – and that’s reflected in this polling,” Joni Madison, the organization’s interim president, said Wednesday in a statement.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in the United States since 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples under the U.S. Constitution. Despite that ruling, statutes or constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriage remain on the books in 35 states.

“The joy that has emanated from thousands of weddings of couples who were previously denied the right to marry has melted many hearts,” Madison said Wednesday. “And the supposed harms that opponents of marriage equality predicted simply have not come to pass.”

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