A majority of Americans over the age of
55 approve of gay and lesbian relationships.
According to data from Gallup's 2013
Values and Beliefs poll conducted last month, support for gay
relations among older Americans has increased 25 percentage points
since 2001, reaching a majority for the first time this year.
Fifty-one percent of respondents to the
poll 55 and older said they view gay relations to be morally
acceptable.
A similar increase over the past 12
years has occurred in young people 18 to 34. In 2001, 52 percent of
young people approved of gay relationships. This year, pollsters
found support up by 22 percentage points.
“Americans' fundamental views on
several issues that define the nation's culture have changed in
important ways since the start of the last decade,” pollsters
wrote in releasing their findings. “Gallup trends by age show
that (in every case) increasing acceptance of several matters
relating to sexual relations, as well as divorce and stem cell
research, have moved closer to the views held by the youngest
generation of Americans.”