Exactly a decade since the House of Commons voted to legalise same-sex marriage in the UK, a record number of people in the country say they support it.
According to new research carried out by YouGov, which was published on 3 July, 78 per cent of Britons back same-sex marriage – the highest figure recorded by the organisation to date.
It marks a stark increase from YouGov’s polling in February 2011, when just 42 per cent said they were in favour of same-sex marriage and 21 per cent stated that they outright opposed it.
Around one in six Britons are still opposed to it today, though support has remained around the three-quarter mark since 2019 after steadily climbing over the last decade.
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Almost half (47 per cent) said that they now know someone in a same-sex marriage, a figure that is higher among LGBTQ+ Britons (64 per cent).
Additionally, approximately 84 per cent of the general public shared that they know someone who is gay, bisexual or lesbian.
From 2012 to now, how ‘tolerant’ the country is perceived to be has remained almost the same at a rate of 78 per cent to 77 per cent, respectively.
However, in 2012 just 16 per cent felt the UK was ‘very tolerant’, with this figure only rising by one per cent today.
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Support for same-sex marriage is roughly the same among those under the age of 65 at a range of 79 to 83 per cent, with as many as 62 per cent of over-65s backing the law – more than twice as many as the 29 per cent who are opposed to it.
“This is a significant change since our earlier polls – in our September 2011 survey only 27% of those over 60 supported same-sex marriage on the three-way question, and just 39% did so when we changed to the two-way question in late 2012,” YouGov said in its summary of the polling.
You can find the results in full here.
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