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Americans split over Federal Marriage Amendment

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VENTURA, Calif.—A new nationwide survey conducted by The Barna Group indicates that more than one-third of all adults do not know about the Federal Marriage Amendment now under consideration in the U.S. Senate. When the amendment was described to adults, regardless of their prior awareness, 46 percent favored the amendment while 44 percent opposed it. The remaining 10 percent had no opinion.

While the survey of 1,618 adults revealed that 37 percent of voting-age citizens have never heard of the amendment, several population segments were acutely aware. Those included gay and lesbian adults (94 percent aware), evangelicals (89 percent), Republicans (77 percent), conservatives (77 percent), people likely to vote in the November election (76 percent), college graduates (75 percent), and residents of California (75 percent).

The strongest support for the amendment came from evangelicals (83 percent), conservatives (58 percent), Republicans (56 percent), Protestants (49 percent), and non-evangelical born again Christians (47 percent).

At the other end of the spectrum, the segments most fervently opposed to the amendment were liberals (55 percent), atheists and agnostics (51 percent), and college graduates (43 percent).

The survey also showed that the adults most likely to vote in November favored the amendment 52 percent to 43 percent.

While Americans are split over the amendment, a clear majority opposed ordaining practicing homosexuals as clergy. Less than one-quarter, or 24 percent of adults, favor ordaining ministers who are actively gay, compared to 60 percent who oppose the idea.

No segment was more uniformly opposed to gay ordination than evangelicals. Just 2 percent supported this practice. Among non-evangelical born again Christians, 11 percent favored ordaining practicing homosexuals. Catholics were nearly twice as comfortable with the idea as Protestants (28 percent versus 16 percent, respectively).

Most gay adults were in favor of ordaining homosexuals (64 percent), but a surprising 12 percent opposed the idea and another 25 percent were not sure.