For the first time in nearly three decades, American support for same-sex marriage has stopped climbing. A new Gallup poll finds that 65% of U.S. adults now say same-sex marriages should be recognized as valid under the law, down six points from the record high of 71% recorded in 2022 and 2023.
The figure still represents a clear majority of the country. But the dip marks the first sustained reversal of a long upward trend, and it has prompted fresh debate over whether the shift is a temporary plateau or the start of a deeper change in public opinion.
What the Poll Found
According to Gallup, 65% of Americans now say same-sex marriages should be valid under the law, while 32% say they should not be. The numbers come from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, based on telephone interviews with 1,001 adults across all 50 states conducted from May 1 to May 17, 2026.
That 65% reading is down from the 71% peak the polling firm measured in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, the figure slipped to 69%, and it has shown a small decline in each subsequent year. The change is gradual rather than sudden, but it is consistent enough that analysts are treating it as a genuine trend rather than statistical noise.
A Decades-Long Climb
To understand why the recent dip is notable, it helps to look at the long arc. When Gallup first asked the question in 1996, only 27% of Americans said same-sex marriage should be legal. Support then rose steadily for nearly 30 years, crossing the 50% threshold around 2011 and continuing upward through the 2015 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which made same-sex marriage legal nationwide.
By 2022, more than seven in ten Americans backed it. That made same-sex marriage one of the clearest examples of rapid, durable change in American public opinion. The current decline does not erase that history, but it does interrupt what had looked like a one-directional climb.
A Split Along Party Lines
The most striking part of the new data is that the decline has not been uniform across the political spectrum. The movement has been concentrated almost entirely among Republicans.
In 2021 and 2022, 55% of Republicans said they favored legal same-sex marriage. Today that figure stands at 37%, an 18-point drop in just a few years. Support among independents has eased more modestly, down six points to 67%. Democrats, by contrast, have not moved at all: 87% say same-sex marriage should be valid, unchanged from 2022.
That divergence means the overall national decline is largely a reflection of shifting Republican attitudes, while Democratic and independent views have stayed relatively stable. It also points to a widening partisan gap on an issue that, for a time, had been moving toward broad consensus.
What It Could Mean
Public opinion researchers are watching closely to see whether the numbers stabilize or continue to slide. A single year of movement can be a blip; several consecutive years of decline is harder to dismiss. Gallup’s data now shows a multi-year trend, which is why the latest reading is drawing attention.
It is worth noting what the poll does and does not say. It measures attitudes about whether same-sex marriages should be legally valid. It does not change the current legal status of those marriages, which remain protected nationwide. The survey is a snapshot of where Americans stand, not a forecast of policy.
What This Means for Americans
For most people, the practical takeaway is simple: a clear majority of Americans still support same-sex marriage, but the broad agreement that had been building over the past decade is showing signs of strain. Where opinion goes from here, and whether the partisan gap continues to widen, will shape the conversation in the years ahead.
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