A Gallup poll of a random sample of Americans conducted in May finds that, for the first time, a majority of Republicans report that they believe that gay and lesbian relations are “morally acceptable.” This is your image of the week:
And this, showing that a plurality of Republicans—meaning more than not—think sexual orientation is inborn, not chosen or learned:
Now, to be fair, Gallup specifies a sampling error of ±4 percentage points. So, they’re 95 percent confident that at least 47 percent of Republicans now approve of gayness, but also as many as 55 percent. Also, I don’t know what “gay and lesbian relations” means—sexual relations? relationships?—and neither do the pollsters or the respondents, as far as I know, which is some interesting slippery question asking. Still, that’s the data. Here’s some skepticism, just in case you’ve got an eyebrow raised.
This post originally appeared on Sociological Images, a Pacific Standard partner site, as “Majority of Republicans Now Agree That Being Gay Is Morally Acceptable.”
