DC Post Poll Shows Strong Support For Marriage

22. On another subject, do you think it should be legal or illegal for gay and lesbian couples to get married? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?

             --------- Legal ---------   -------- Illegal --------     No           
           NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Somewhat   Strongly   opinion     
1/28/10      56       42         13      35        5         30         9
 White     83       70         14      12        4          9         4
 Black     37       24         13      51        7         44        12

Compare to national (question in 2005 and 2009 polls mixed phrasing as "gay and lesbian" and "homosexual"):

             --------- Legal ---------   -------- Illegal --------     No           
           NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Somewhat   Strongly   opinion     
4/24/09*     49       31         18      46        7         39         5
6/4/06       36       24         13      58        7         51         5
8/28/05*     39       NA         NA      58       NA         NA         3
8/29/04 RV   32       18         14      62       10         52         5
3/7/04       38       24         14      59       11         48         3
2/22/04      39       25         13      55        6         49         6
1/18/04      41       NA         NA      55       NA         NA         4
9/7/03       37       NA         NA      55       NA         NA         7

The Washington Post conducted a poll that shows there is strong support for marriage equality in the nation's capital:

Nearly six in 10 D.C. residents, including 83 percent of whites, favor making it legal for gay couples to marry.

The broad support for same-sex marriage in the District's white community cuts across cultural lines that divide opinions on the matter nationally. Regular white churchgoers nationwide generally oppose same-sex marriage, but two-thirds of whites in the District who attend services monthly or more often support same-sex marriage.

African Americans tilt against same-sex marriage. Thirty-seven percent of black residents back legal same-sex marriage. A slim majority opposes it, and the bulk of opponents say they feel that way strongly.

But some divisions are evident in the local black community on this issue, with sharp divides by church attendance and education.

One in five African Americans who attend church services weekly favor same-sex marriage, and support rises to 47 percent among those who attend less often. A narrow majority of black college graduates supports gay marriage, compared with about a third of African Americans with less formal education.

The poll indicates that council members Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7) were representing their constituents' views when they became the only two members to vote against the same-sex marriage bill.

Marriages are expected to become legal in the District of Columbia in about a month, once the thirty legislative days of Congressional inaction become official. Mormon Republican U.S. Representative Jason Chaffetz and Mormon Republican U.S. Senator Robert Bennett have introduced bills in their respective houses to block marriage equality in the District. The bills are unlikely to become law.

Hat/tip to Wonder Man.