How Many People Still Support Gay Marriage Now That It’s Legal?

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Gay marriage might be legal in the United States, following the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision last month–but that hasn’t made it more popular among rank and file Americans.

In fact, since it became legal nationwide, support for gay marriage has dropped–a lot.

According to a recent AP-GFK poll, support for gay marriage has dropped six percentage points between April and July. For the first time in recent polling, more Americans oppose gay marriage than support it.

Just 42% of Americans now favor legal gay marriage.

That’s down substantially from the 48% of Americans who supported gay marriage back in April.

But the poll also found that, as gay marriage support weakens, support for religious freedom is on the rise.

Despite the mainstream media’s narrative, religious liberty is more popular than gay marriage. 56% of Americans–a pretty substantial majority–believe that government should rule in favor of religious freedom.

Specifically on issues issues like forcing bakers to make wedding cakes for gay weddings, 59% of Americans believe that religious freedom should prevail–up from just 52% in April.

49% of Americans also agree that local officials, who oppose gay marriage for religious reasons, should be exempted from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

While popular opinion will likely have no effect on the legality of gay marriage–it would be highly unlikely for the Supreme Court to eventually ban gay marriage after they legalized it–it shows that the fight for religious freedom, and the fight against gay marriage, is still going strong in America.

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Morgan is a freelance writer for a variety of publications covering popular culture, societal behavior and the political influences of each.