SurveyUSA interviewed 893 adults nationwide, Monday 06/04/12 through Wednesday 06/06/12. Research conceptualized and commissioned by iMediaEthics.org. Adults reachable on a home telephone (69% of respondents) were interviewed on their home telephone in the recorded voice of a professional announcer. The youngest-male method of respondent selection was used on these landline calls. Respondents unreachable on a home telephone (aka: “cell phone respondents”)(31% of respondents), were contacted by live operators, who hand-dialed the telephone, remained on the line throughout the duration of the call, read the questions to respondents, and recorded the answers. Blended sample for both landlines and cellphones were provided by SSI of Fairfield CT. Responses were minimally weighted to U.S. Census targets for gender, age, race and region. Each respondent was randomly assigned at the time of the interview to one of two different paths through the survey; depending on the path, respondents heard slightly different question wording. Where further necessary, questions and answer choices were rotated to prevent order bias, recency and latency effects. SurveyUSA assigns to each question within the instrument a theoretical margin of sampling error, but such error is useful only in theory, and though commonly cited in the presentation of research results, sampling error is only one of many types of error that may influence the outcome of an opinion research study. More practical concerns include the inability to contact some, the refusal of others to be interviewed and the inability of still others to speak the language. It is difficult to quantify non-sampling errors.
ASK ALL
Q1. How closely have you been following the issue of same-sex marriage:
%
29 Very closely
34 Somewhat closely
17 Not too closely
18 Not at all closely
1 No opinion
All in Form A [N=470]
Q1A. Based on what you’ve read or heard, do you think marriages between couples of the same sex should or should not be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages?
%
53 Should
41 Should not
6 No opinion
If “should”, ask Q2A and Q3A:[N=248]
Q2A. How upset are you that today, marriages between couple of the same sex are NOT recognized by the law as valid in most states? Are you:
%
30 Very upset
29 Somewhat upset
22 Not too upset
19 Not upset at all
1 No opinion
Q3A. Overall, would you say you feel strongly or not strongly about making same-sex marriage legal?
%
73 Strongly
26 Not strongly
1 No opinion
If “should not”, ask Q4A and Q5A [N=194]
Q4A. If marriages between couples of the same sex DO become recognized by the law as valid in most or all states, how upset would you be:
%
61 Very upset
19 Somewhat upset
12 Not too upset
7 Not upset at all
1 No opinion
Q5A. Overall, would you say you feel strongly or not strongly about making same-sex marriage legal?
%
36 Strongly
61 Not strongly
3 No opinion
All in Form A [N=470]
Q6A. In your view, is being gay or lesbian:
%
48 due to factors beyond a person’s control, or
42 is it something a person chooses?
10 No opinion – volunteered) [GO TO Q8]
IF GIVE AN OPINION, ASK: [N=424]
Q7A. Do you feel very sure about that, or just somewhat sure?
%
73 Very sure
26 Somewhat sure
1 No opinion
FORM B [ASK OTHER HALF SAMPLE; N=423]]
Q1B. Based on what you’ve read or heard, do you think marriages between couples of the same sex should or should not be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages – or doesn’t it matter to you one way or the other?
%
38 Should
35 Should not
23 Doesn’t matter to you
3 No opinion
If “should”, ask Q2B and Q3B:[N=162]
Q2B. How upset are you that today, marriages between couple of the same sex are NOT recognized by the law as valid in most states? Are you:
%
32 Very upset
33 Somewhat upset
13 Not too upset
18 Not upset at all
3 No opinion
Q3B. Overall, would you say you feel strongly or not strongly about making same-sex marriage legal?
%
68 Strongly
28 Not strongly
4 No opinion
If “should not”, ask Q4B and Q5B: [N=150]
Q4B. If marriages between couples of the same sex DO become recognized by the law as valid in most or all states, how upset would you be:
%
59 Very upset
20 Somewhat upset
11 Not too upset
8 Not upset at all
2 No opinion
Q5B. Overall, would you say you feel strongly or not strongly about making same-sex marriage legal?
%
49 Strongly
45 Not strongly
6 No opinion
ASK ALL IN FORM B [N=423]
Q6B. In your view, is being gay or lesbian
%
41 Something a person chooses, or
47 Is it due to factors beyond a person’s control?
11 No opinion
IF GIVE AN OPINION, ASK: [N=375]
Q7B. Do you feel very sure about that, or just somewhat sure?
%
71 Very sure
28 Somewhat sure
1 No opinion
ASK ALL [N=893]
Q8. Do you personally know anyone who is gay or lesbian?
%
85 Yes
14 No
1 No opinion
IF YES IN Q8, ASK: [N=759]
Q9. Is any gay or lesbian person you know either a close family member or a close friend?
%
20 Close family member
33 Close friend
16 Both
31 Neither
Go to Gay Marriage Polling Report here.
This poll is part of iMediaEthics’ PollCheck project to fact check media polls.
Other iMediaEthics polls found here