---
title: "Conservatives continue to oppose same-sex marriage but by smaller margins"
description: "Support for same-sex marriage has been growing in recent years, with half (50%) of Americans now in favor and 43% opposed."
date: "2013-10-11"
authors:
  - name: "Tim Townsend"
    job_title: "Former "
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/tim-townsend/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/10/11/conservatives-continue-to-oppose-same-sex-marriage-but-by-smaller-margins/"
categories:
  - "Religion & Politics"
  - "Same-Sex Marriage"
  - "Same-Sex Marriage"
---

# Conservatives continue to oppose same-sex marriage but by smaller margins

[![FT_13.10.11_valueVoters_310px](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/10/FT_13.10.11_valueVoters_310px.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2013/10/FT_13.10.11_valueVoters_310px.png)

Some of the nation’s religious and socially conservative leaders are gathering in Washington this weekend for the [Values Voter Summit](http://www.valuesvotersummit.org/), which includes a panel discussion on “The Future of Marriage.” This is the first time the group has [met since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/06/26/high-court-strikes-down-doma-but-leaves-fate-of-prop-8-uncertain/) a key provision in the federal Defense of Marriage Act that prevented legally wed same-sex couples from receiving all the federal benefits currently available to married couples of the opposite sex.

Support for same-sex marriage has been [growing in recent years](http://features.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/religion/same-sex-marriage-attitudes/index.php), with half (50%) of Americans now in favor and 43% opposed. While support is considerably lower among those who identify as white evangelical Protestant, Republican or politically conservative, support for same-sex marriage has risen even among these groups over the past decade, according [to aggregated Pew Research data](http://features.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/religion/same-sex-marriage-attitudes/slide3.php).

Today, roughly three-in-ten Republicans (29%) and political conservatives (30%) say they support same-sex marriage, compared with 12 years ago, when 21% of Republicans and 18% of conservatives expressed this view. About a quarter (23%) of white evangelical Protestants now say they favor same-sex marriage, compared with 13% in 2001.

Some of this shift in opinion is attributable to members of the Millennial generation (those born since 1980), who express higher levels of support for same-sex marriage than older age groups.

For example, data from Pew Research [surveys from March and May 2013](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/06/06/in-gay-marriage-debate-both-supporters-and-opponents-see-legal-recognition-as-inevitable/) show that adults under age 30 who say they are Republican or lean Republican are much more supportive of same-sex marriage (54%) than Republicans 65 and older (18%). At the same time, younger Republicans are much less supportive of same-sex marriage than those in the 18-29 age bracket who are Democrats or lean Democratic (54% vs. 76%).