Poll: Support for gay marriage hits 58 percent, a record high

Public support for gay marriage has reached record highs, with 58 percent of the American public now saying homosexual couples should be legally allowed to wed.

The results — which represent a 26-point increase from a similar ABC News/Washington Post survey conducted less than a decade ago — come within a week of Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both publicly announcing they now support same-sex marriage.

It also comes just over a week before the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a pair of cases examining the constitutionality of state laws banning gay marriage and the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from conferring marriage benefits to gay couples.

The survey showed that support for gay marriage was driven primarily by Democrats and independents, with 72 percent and 62 percent respectively supporting the legalization of homosexual marriage. Just a third of Republicans agree, although that number is up 18 points from the 2004 survey.

The poll also showed most Americans now believing that the U.S. Constitution should trump state laws on gay marriage by nearly a 2-to-1 margin. Interestingly, both supporters and opponents of gay marriage agree on this front, evidence that both feel confident headed into the Supreme Court's deliberations.

The poll also found that fewer than a quarter of Americans now see homosexuality as "something people choose to be." Nearly three-quarters of those who do not believe homosexuality is a choice support gay marriage; by contrast, nearly seven in 10 who do see it as a decision oppose same-sex weddings.

On Monday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said that President Obama believed it was a "good thing" that attitudes were shifting on gay marriage.

"It's testimony to how far this country and how quickly this country has traveled," Carney said.

---