Determinants of Public Support for Same-Sex Marriage: Generational Cohorts, Social Contact, and Shifting Attitudes

Over the course of the past decade, public opinion researchers have taken a keen interest in understanding what factors influence support for same-sex marriage and civil unions both in the United States and abroad (Baunach, 2011; Becker & Scheufele, 2009; Brewer, 2003, 2008; Smith, 2005). Traditionally, research has focused on documenting the connections between religiosity, conservative political ideologies, and opposition toward gay marriage (Becker & Scheufele, 2009; Brewer & Wilcox, 2005; Campbell & Monson, 2008; Olson, Cadge, & Harrison, 2006) and recent work has started to explore the relationships between religious affiliation, ethnicity, and related attitudes toward civil unions and same-sex marriage (Ellison, Acevedo, & Ramos Wada, 2011; Sherkat, De Vries, & Creek, 2010). Recent political developments in U.S. states like New York and California and the rapidly changing pace of public opinion on the same-sex marriage issue (53% of Americans supported same-sex marriage in a May 2011 Gallup Poll) have encouraged scholars to not only consider the influence of religious and ideological value predispositions on opinions but to also look at what other factors might help to further explain variation and shifts in issue attitudes (Becker, in press; Newport, 2011; Shear & Stolberg, 2011; Silver, 2011). As a result, more contemporary approaches toward public opinion research on the same-sex marriage debate have begun to place greater emphasis on studying two possible influences for the seemingly dramatic shift in public support for same-sex marriage in the United States in particular: (a) the increasing influence of social contact and personal networks on issue attitudes and (b) the role that age and generational change play in shaping public opinion (Baunach, Burgess, & Muse, 2010; Becker & Scheufele, 2011; Brewer, 2008).