Gallup Poll: 63% Support Gay Adoption; 55% Support Gay Marriage

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A new Gallup poll contains more bad news for the hate merchants at The Family Foundation here in Virginia and for its national allies such as the hate groups Family Research Council and the National Organization for Marriage. One has to wonder how much more lopsided support needs to come before Republicans will cease prostituting themselves to the Christofascists within the GOP base.  It is safe to assume that the opponents of LGBT equality will become even more hysterical as it becomes increasingly clear that they have lost the battle - and that professional Christians such as Victoria Cobb and Tony Perkins may soon have to get real jobs.  Here are highlights of the poll findings:

A clear majority of Americans (63%) say same-sex couples should have the legal right to adopt a child, the most to say so since Gallup began tracking opinions on the matter more than 20 years ago. This is higher than Americans' support for same-sex marriage (55%). 

These findings are from Gallup's May 8-11 Values and Beliefs survey. Gallup has been asking slight variations of this question since 1992. Overall, support has shifted from a clear majority in the 1990s saying same-sex or homosexual couples should not be legally permitted to adopt children to the opposite now.

A majority of Americans across all major demographics now say same-sex couples should have the legal right to adopt a child. This includes among all key political persuasions: 80% support among Democrats, 61% support among independents, and 51% support among Republicans. 

This majority support for legally permitting same-sex couples to adopt a child is also the case among different age groups. Young people between the ages of 18 and 29 are most likely to support the idea, with 77% saying same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt children.

As the question of whether same-sex parents should be allowed to adopt has been debated in the U.S. in the last decade, same-sex couples nationwide have been adopting children at a regular pace. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA, more than 16,000 same-sex couples are raising an estimated 22,000 adopted children in the U.S. While popular support for same-sex adoption is outpacing approval of gay marriage, Gates notes that even lesser forms of relationship recognition -- such as civil unions and domestic partnerships -- have included the right for same-sex couples to jointly adopt children.