Majority Of Americans: Marriage For Gays Is A Constitutional Right
In the wake of Judge Vaughn Walker’s Prop 8 decision, a just-released CNN poll shows that 52% of Americans think marriage equality is a constitutional right. 46% of Americans disagreed. This is the first time a majority of Americans have said same-sex couples should have the constitutional right to be married.
As with any poll, there is a margin of error and there are different ways of asking questions. The highly-respected Nate Silver, founder of fivethirthyeight.com weighs in:
CNN also asked the question in a slightly different way to half its respondents, omitting the term “should” from the question above, i.e. “Do you think gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to get married and have their marriage recognized by law as valid?”. Using that phrasing, 49 percent said yes and 51 percent said no.
Combining the two subsamples has 50.5 percent of Americans in support of gay marriage and 47.5 percent opposed: just about the barest possible majority. But a majority nevertheless, something that no previous poll had shown. An ABC/Washington Post poll from April 2009 had come the closest, showing a 49/46 plurality in support of gay marriage rights; a few other polls had also shown gay marriage to the plurality position when respondents were given a three-way choice of marriage, civil unions, and no legal recognition. But no national poll, save for one debatable case with highly unorthodox phrasing, had shown it to the the majority position.
The poll was started on Friday, August 6 — two days after the Prop 8 decision was announced and had filtered through the news cycle.
More good news: The poll showed a four percentage point increase from a year ago when the question, “Do you think gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to get married and have their marriage recognized by law as valid?” was asked, and a corresponding four point decrease in opposition.
Even more good news!
Those under age 50 who believe same sex couples have a “constitutional right to get married” grew to 58%, with 42% opposed. Support rises to 61% by those under age 50 who think gays and lesbians should have a constitutional right to get married.
It should come as no suprise that Conservatives and/or Republicans are the only political demographic that gave less than 50% support. 67% of Democrats and 55% of Independents believe “gays and lesbians should have a constitutional right to get married.”
Now, here’s where the numbers get a bit strange.
Remember, the question was asked two ways:
“Do you think gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to get married and have their marriage recognized by law as valid?”
and,
“Do you think gays and lesbians should have a constitutional right to get married and have their marriage recognized by law as valid?”
45% of men think gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to get married, but only 37% of men think gays and lesbians should have a constitutional right to get married.
67% of women think gays and lesbians should have a constitutional right to get married, and 52% of women think gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to get married.
While there is a great deal of good news here, the old news remains: support for marriage equality is slimmest with conservatives, Republicans, men, and those over age 50. We have our work cut out for us!
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President Donald Trump delivered a forceful message to attendees at the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C.
In pre-recorded remarks, the president told the anti-abortion gathering, “under the Trump administration, we’re strongly defending religious liberty, we’re bringing back faith in America.”
“We bringing back God,” Trump declared.
Having praised the end of the constitutional right to abortion, Trump said, “the work to rebuild a culture that supports life continues in every state, every community, and every part of our beautiful land.”
“This is a battle that must be fought, must be won, not only in the corridors of power, but, above all, in the hearts and souls of the people,” he continued, suggesting a desire to end all abortion in the United States.
“We have stopped forced taxpayer funding of abortion at home and abroad, we’re championing faith-based adoption and foster care, and supporting our parents by investing $1,000 into an account that will grow over time for every newborn baby.”
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Vice President JD Vance told attendees, “let the record show you have a vice president who practices what he preaches,” before announcing that he and his wife Usha are expecting their fourth child, as Fox News reported. “And it will be our third baby boy. So, we’ll take whatever prayers you can give. We certainly need them.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson also spoke at the rally, declaring that Republican policies “support” American families.
“Republicans are working hard to deliver on the mandate you gave us in the last election, to make it easier than ever before, to raise a family in this great country of ours. And because we know that support for American families doesn’t end at birth, our policies reflect this.”
Critics challenged Johnson’s claim.
Health care activist Melanie D’Arrigo remarked that Republicans offer no universal health care, paid family leave, universal childcare, a living wage as a minimum wage, affordable housing, or tuition-free public college, but, she said, they have rolled back labor laws, gutted food assistance, and deregulated food safety.
Trump: “We’re bringing back God.” pic.twitter.com/Wsc7z9OFrf
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 23, 2026
READ MORE: Trump Promotes His Triumphal Arch as Millions Face Massive Storm
Image via Reuters
Americans in more than half the country are bracing for “hazardous ice, heavy snow and brutal cold” from a storm that a National Weather Service forecaster has predicted will be “crippling.” A potentially “catastrophic” ice storm is headed for the Southeast, and at least 14 states across the country have already declared a state of emergency.
The “potentially historic, massive winter storm will slam more than half of the United States today, moving east as it brings heavy snow, widespread ice accumulation and dangerous cold,” NBC News reported. “Up to a foot of snow is likely on the northern side of the system from Oklahoma to Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service.”
About 1,300 flights have already been canceled ahead of the storm that is expected to hit 40 states across the nation.
Business Insider reported, “Americans strip store shelves bare as millions brace for a potentially historic storm.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Friday morning took the opportunity to mock what he called “Environmental Insurrectionists,” as he asked, “whatever happened to global warming???”
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Hours later, Trump posted to Truth Social artist’s renderings of his Triumphal Arch, which he wants built in Washington, D.C, near the Lincoln Memorial — with a start date of sometime in February. He wants it completed by Independence Day for the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.
“It hasn’t started yet. It starts sometime in the next two months. It’ll be great. Everyone loves it,” Trump told Politico in December. “They love the ballroom too. But they love the Triumphal Arch.”
Last month, President Trump revealed what the White House’s top domestic policy goal is. The president shared with attendees at a Sunday holiday party that the “primary thing” for the head of his Domestic Policy Council, Vince Haley, is building Trump’s dream arch in Washington, D.C.
“Vince is unbelievable on policy. And we have a policy thing that’s going to be unbelievable happening,” Trump said of the proposed arch, as The Daily Beast reported.
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“It’s something that is so special. Uh, it will be like the one in, in Paris, but to be honest with you, it blows it away. Blows it away in every way,” Trump said. “And Vince came in one day and his eyes were teeming. I mean, he couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. He saw it and he wanted to do that. That’s your primary thing.”
Critics slammed the president for focusing on his arch while ordinary Americans are struggling.
Patriot Takes, a social media account with nearly half a million followers, blasted the president, sarcastically saying he “is laser focused on things that matter to the American people.”
The Independence Arch. pic.twitter.com/I7GnQAH9Ko
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 23, 2026
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Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s coalition is “falling apart,” according to columnist Matt K. Lewis, who writes at The Hill that Trump’s list of accomplishments seems more like “a cry for help.”
Pointing to Trump’s rapid subject-changing, Lewis noted that the president kicked off the new year by invading Venezuela and capturing Nicolás Maduro.
“From there, things escalated briskly,” he wrote. “He defended an ICE agent who shot and killed a protester in Minneapolis named Renee Good. He threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act. He threatened to take Greenland — possibly by force. He threatened to slap tariffs on European allies over Greenland. He suggested his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize justified taking Greenland. And he almost failed to issue any acknowledgment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, waiting until bedtime to do so.”
Lewis says that while somewhere there is a “constituency” for each of these individual actions, “taken together, they resemble a blitzkrieg against public opinion.”
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He summed up Trump’s low poll numbers and concluded, “America has seen this movie before, has been reminded of how it ends, and is already edging toward the exit.”
So, if the 2024 election held today, it’s “not at all clear” that Trump would win. he said, in part because “Trump’s winning coalition was so sprawling and incoherent that pleasing one group would automatically enrage another.”
So what’s happened in the past year?
“Trump is very good at campaigning and very bad at governing. This explains almost everything that has happened since he took office one year ago this week, including the nation’s rising consumption of Rolaids.”
Disappointment from the “newer members of his coalition” came from “the ultimate realization that Trump’s most electorally appealing promises — such as lowering grocery prices on day one — are never actually going to happen. Indeed, Trump’s policies — tariffs, for example — were almost custom-made to increase grocery prices, which is generally frowned upon by people who eat.”
As it turns out, “Trump’s true superpower … only works when he is not actually in charge.”
READ MORE: ‘Good Chance’ Trump Will Be Electorally ‘Humiliated’ in November: Carville
Image via Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re Bringing Back God’
Trump Promotes His Triumphal Arch as Millions Face Massive Storm
‘Blitzkrieg Against Public Opinion’: Columnist Calls Trump’s Agenda a ‘Cry for Help’
Sean Duffy’s DC IndyCar Grand Prix Dream Is Stalling
‘Good Chance’ Trump Will Be Electorally ‘Humiliated’ in November: Carville
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