A new poll released by Gallup found that Americans’ support for LGBT-related issues has leveled off and begun to slide downward.
According to the survey, a majority of Americans (65%) still support same-sex marriage, although a moral acceptance of gay relationships has dropped to 62%. Gallup notes that the number is the lowest since 2016.
“Between 1996 and 2022, the percentage of U.S. adults in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage increased by 44 points, from 27% to 71%,” Gallup wrote. “In 2024, the figure dipped to 69%, and it has shown a marginal decline each year since.”
The number of those who consider transgenderism acceptable has also dropped by eight points, down to 38% of Americans.
“When Gallup first asked about changing one’s gender in 2021, 46% found it morally acceptable, and 51% found it morally wrong,” the survey results read. “Today, those numbers stand at 38% and 57%, respectively.”
Much of the cause of the decline in support is due to Republicans’ shifting sentiments. In 2021 and 2022, more than half of Republicans surveyed, 55%, said they favored legal same-sex marriage. That number now stands at 37%. Support for the issue among independents has also dropped to 67%, down six points, although Democrats’ opinion on the matter has remained unchanged since 2022, with 87% supporting same-sex marriage.
“For about two decades, Americans grew more accepting of LGBTQ+ people and more supportive of their civil rights,” Gallup wrote in its “bottom line” for the survey. “However, those pro-LGBTQ+ attitudes peaked about five years ago and have since edged downward, mostly among Republicans. The change has come as conservative leaders have pushed back against diversity, equity and inclusion programs that were intended to foster greater acceptance of LGBTQ+ people and other historically disadvantaged groups.”
A 2024 poll from Gallup found that the number of Americans lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer stood at 7.6%, up from 5.6% four years ago. In 2012, the number of U.S. adults identifying as LGBTQ was 3.5%.
