A poll released Thursday found record
high support for gay marriage among California voters.
Sixty-one percent of the 834 people
surveyed by the Field Poll said they support marriage equality, while 32 percent remain opposed.
Among people 39 and younger, 78 percent
support such unions. A majority (56%) of middle-aged respondents
also are in support.
The Field Poll's 1977 survey, the first
to ask about the issue, found a large majority (59%) opposed to
allowing gay couples to marry and only 28 percent approved.
The survey results arrive a month
before the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in
Perry v. Hollingsworth. The case challenges the
constitutionality of Proposition 8, the 2008 voter-approved
constitutional amendment which put an end to the weddings of gay
couples taking place in the state after the California Supreme Court
struck down the state's law excluding gay couples from marriage.
More than 18,000 gay and lesbian
couples married before Proposition 8 took effect.
Efforts to repeal the amendment have
failed to gain sufficient support from major gay rights groups in the
state. Most have said they are waiting to see how the Supreme Court
rules before committing to an expensive ballot initiative.