FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas, November 13, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – In a Pew Research survey earlier this year, nearly three quarters (72%) of Americans said they saw recognition of homosexual “marriage” as “inevitable.” Even a majority of homosexuality opponents (59%) said that legalizing gay “marriage” was “inevitable.”
Before the U.S. Supreme Court found same-sex “marriage” in the Constitution and dictated its acceptance throughout the land, the Washington Post presented it as generally accepted by Americans, reporting on “rapidly shifting attitudes about marriage equality” and concluding that “same-sex marriage cannot be stopped.” Newsmax proclaimed, “over half of Americans favor giving gays and lesbians the right to marry.” The Atlantic headlined, “America Is Ready for Gay Marriage” and claimed, “61 percent of Americans say they support gay marriage.” The Huffington Post boasted, “Most Americans now say they wouldn't be upset to learn their child is gay or lesbian, and they react positively or neutrally to the idea of more gays and lesbians raising children of their own.”
But new studies in at least two states reveal that Americans are not, in fact, so supportive of homosexual “marriage.”
A statewide poll in Arkansas found that a full 63-percent majority of citizens in the state oppose same-sex couples attempting marriage, with nearly two thirds saying that they do not think such “marriages” should be recognized. Only 29 percent approve.
University of Arkansas political science professor Janine Parry concluded, “Arkansans aren't particularly persuaded by the national court ruling.”
Furthermore, 57 percent of Tennesseans oppose or “strongly oppose” same-sex “marriage,” according to a new poll conducted by Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). Only 29 percent support redefining marriage to include same-sex couples.
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Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, told LifeSiteNews, “The new polling data out of Arkansas and Tennessee shows that voters in those states are just as strongly opposed to redefining marriage as ever.”
“This should stand as a rebuke to the Supreme Court and to their illegitimate effort to remove the question from the democratic process,” Sprigg commented.
Even among those most influenced by the mass media – young adults between 18 and 34 – half of Tennessee respondents remain opposed to the Supreme Court's June 26 decision constitutionalizing homosexual “marriage.”
Noting that the redefinition of marriage has only minority support among 18- to 34-year-olds, Sprigg concluded, “This proves that the narrative suggesting the younger generation has no problem with such radical social re-engineering is false.”
The Tennessee poll found that even among Democrats, 44 percent oppose or strongly oppose same-sex “marriage.” Among the state's Republicans, 74 percent oppose or strongly oppose gay “marriage.”
“If five Supreme Court justices thought that their pronouncement from on high redefining marriage last June would persuade Americans to their position, they'd better think again,” Sprigg stated. “I give kudos to the people of Arkansas and Tennessee for not being fooled by Justice Kennedy's lofty rhetoric.”
The MSTU poll surveyed registered voters statewide by telephone and has a margin of error of 4 percent. Last spring's poll of all Tennessee adults found the same: 55 percent oppose same-sex “marriage.”
The Arkansas poll was sponsored by the Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
