A majority of Michigan residents
support the legalization of gay marriage, a new poll has found.
According to Michigan State
University's (MSU) State of the State Survey, 56 percent of
respondents say they support marriage rights for gay and lesbian
couples, while 39 percent remain opposed.
It is the first poll to show a majority
of Michigan residents in favor of such unions.
A 2010 State of the State Survey found
48 percent in favor and 51 percent opposed. A more recent June
Public
Policy Polling survey of 500 Michigan voters found 41 percent of
respondents in favor of marriage equality.
“Support for gay marriage has
increased in recent years, in Michigan and across the country,”
said
Charles Ballard, an economics professor at MSU who led the
survey. “Although a majority of Michigan residents favored gay
marriage in this survey, there remain substantial differences among
different groups.”
The survey results come just weeks
after voters in three states – Maryland, Maine and Washington state
– legalized marriage equality at the ballot box, and Minnesotans
rejected an effort to ban it.