News Preview: Senate Nears Vote on Constitutional Amendment Banning Gay Marriage

Monday, June 5, 2006

As the U.S. Senate approaches a vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life provides a brief analysis of its polling data as well as helpful links to developments in the states, news stories, advocacy organizations, the legislation itself and sources for journalists.

Polling Analysis: Support for Marriage Amendment Tepid Among Evangelicals, Weak Among Other Groups

Gay marriage figured prominently in the 2004 elections and now the U.S. Senate is preparing this week to vote, for the second time in as many years, on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The amendment would say: “Marriage in the United States shall consist solely of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.”

Political analysts do not expect the legislation to garner the two-thirds support (67 votes) needed to pass a constitutional amendment. Still, some argue that even a failed attempt may help fire up the GOP's religious conservative base ahead of November's mid-term elections by proving Republicans are serious about issues that matter to these religious voters.

Surveys by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press indicate that those who oppose gay marriage do not necessarily think it is a “good idea” to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban it. Even among white evangelical Protestants, more than three-quarters of whom opposed gay marriage, only 50% supported a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, according to a July 2005 survey.

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Support for a constitutional ban on gay marriage was even lower among the nation's other sizable religious groups. In the same Pew poll, 46% of white mainline Protestants opposed gay marriage but only 22% favored amending the U.S. Constitution. Among white non-Hispanic Catholics the figures were similar, with 48% opposing gay marriage and only 23% favoring the constitutional change. Among the general population, 29% found such an amendment to be a good idea.

These figures may seem surprising in light of developments in the states. In 19 out of 19 state referenda, voters have approved constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. In addition, 41 state legislatures have passed Defense of Marriage Acts, which limit the legal definition of marriage to the union between a man and a woman. Still, as the Pew survey data indicates, opposition to gay marriage does not necessarily translate into support for a U.S. constitutional amendment banning it.

Pew Forum Resource Page: Marriage Protection Amendment