Source: ABC News
A record number of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll support civil unions for gay couples, and most continue to favor legal abortion -- while behind those majority views sharp political and ideological divisions rage on.
Overall, 55 percent favor allowing homosexual couples to form legally recognized civil unions, giving them the same rights as married couples in areas such as health insurance, inheritance and pension coverage. That's up from 45 percent in an ABC/Post poll in 2006; the previous high was 51 percent in 2004.
Conservative Republicans and evangelical white Protestants oppose civil unions by more than 2-1, and Republicans overall oppose them by 58-39 percent.
On civil unions, support peaks among adults under age 30, and tanks among seniors. It's highest in the East and West, notably lower in the Midwest and South. Whites overall are more apt than blacks to support gay civil unions, and the idea wins more support among women (59 percent) than men (51 percent, and 47 percent among married men).
Support for legal abortion, by contrast, is identical among men and women, and also among blacks and whites. But legal abortion creates an especially stark dividing line between evangelical white Protestants (63 percent oppose it) and their nonevangelical counterparts, among whom 65 percent support it. Legal abortion also is supported by 53 percent of white Catholics.
There are greater differences in general election matchups, given the partisanship in views on these issues. Matching Clinton against Giuliani, supporters of larger government with more services break 2-1 for Clinton; those favoring smaller government with fewer services favor Giuliani by a 26-point margin.
On abortion, similarly, Clinton claims 60 percent of supporters of legal abortion, while Giuliani's backed by 58 percent of those who say it should be generally illegal. The divisions on civil unions are about the same; on immigration less so, but still significant.
Last modified: 8 Nov 07 11:11