Poll: Support For Gay Marriage Dips

There are many differences between the gay rights movement and the civil rights movement. For example, the fact that race is an unchangeable attribute based on biologically inherited traits and homosexuality is an act. Whereas in the wake of decisions like Brown v. Board of Education and Loving v. Virginia support for the civil rights movement grew, as seen with the following story even with judicial activism abounding in California, Massachusetts, and Iowa, support for certain components of the gay rights movement's agenda is decaying. Note: this copy only showcases the first part of the article. The rest of the work speaks of other interesting numbers on other issues and a link to the whole work follows this partial reproduction.

Support for same-sex marriage has declined slightly from two months ago, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds.

On other issues that have come before the Supreme Court -- namely, affirmative action and abortion -- Americans' opinions have remained relatively stable for years, according to the poll, conducted June 12 - 16.

Most Americans support some legal recognition of a same-sex couple’s relationship. The poll found 33 percent favor marriage for same-sex couples, down somewhat from a high of 42 percent in April, and another 30 percent support civil unions. A third of Americans think there should be no legal recognition of a same-sex couple’s relationship. Views in this poll are similar to those found back in March of this year.

On the issue of affirmative action, views have remained similar for more than a decade. Fifty percent of Americans favor affirmative action programs, while four in 10 are opposed to them. In 2008, 51 percent favored affirmative action, while that number rested at 59 percent in 2000 and 55 percent in 1997.

There is broader support -- from 80 percent of Americans -- for programs that make special efforts to help people get ahead who come from low-income backgrounds, regardless of gender or ethnicity...

Source:

"Poll: Support For Gay Marriage Dips", CBS, June 17th, AD 2009, found at http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/17/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5094597.shtml accessed July 2nd, AD 2009.