Poll finds U.S. warming to gay rights

Opposition to same-sex marriage dropped sharply across the country during the past two years, though just over half of Americans still oppose allowing gays and lesbians to marry, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center released Wednesday.

The poll also showed increased support for allowing same-sex couples to adopt children, and substantial backing for the rights of gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.

The Pew center's national poll of 1,405 adults, conducted from March 8-12, found that 51 percent opposed same-sex marriage and 39 percent supported it. In February 2004, as same-sex couples were marrying in San Francisco, a Pew poll found 63 percent of Americans opposed the right of gays and lesbians to marry and 30 percent in favor. The margin of error in the latest survey was plus or minus 3 or 4 percentage points, depending on the question.

Wednesday's poll found the country nearly evenly split on allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt children -- 46 percent in favor, 48 percent opposed. In 1999, 38 percent of Americans supported adoptions by same-sex couples, while 57 percent opposed them.

60 percent of those polled in the most recent survey supported allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, while 32 percent opposed the idea.