by Rex Wockner
NATIONAL NEWS – June 09, 2008
A USA Today/Gallup poll released June 3 found that 63 percent of Americans believe the government has no business passing laws banning same-sex marriage and 30 percent think the government should not prevent polygamy either.
Respondents were asked whether the decision to marry should strictly be a private decision between two people who want to marry or if the government has the right to pass laws to prohibit marriages between two people of the same sex. Sixty-three percent said it's a private decision, 33 percent said the government should get involved and 4 percent had no opinion.
The respondents also expressed support for marriage between people of different religions (97 percent approved) and people of different races (95 percent approved). But only 30 percent said they are OK with more than two people getting married to each other, so-called plural marriage, or polygamy.
People of all ages except those over 65 said gay couples should be able to marry, with support topping out at 79 percent among people age 18 to 29.
People in all regions of the country supported same-sex marriage, with support strongest in the East at 71 percent, followed by the West (64 percent), the Midwest (63 percent) and the South (56 percent).
Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they had friends, relatives or co-workers who had personally told them they are gay or lesbian.
Some observers said the poll's high level of support for same-sex marriage could have been, in part, a function of the question's odd wording contrasting a private decision with government restrictions.
The poll of 1,012 adults was conducted May 30 to June 1 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
