SSM NOT THAT POLARIZING? From Indiana University

In light of the Nov. 18 court decision in Massachusetts on the rights of same-sex couples to marry, an Indiana University
professor has released preliminary results of a national, non-partisan study of public attitudes on the issue.

In many instances, people's views on the issue were affected by whether children were part of the equation. While younger people tended to be more accepting of single-sex marriages, an important subset of older respondents consistently were more favorable to them. Also, women generally were more in favor of single-sex marriages than men. ...

Respondents were asked about kinds of living arrangements and whether they constituted a family unit. While people were in complete agreement about the traditional family unit consisting of a husband, wife and children, opinions about other living arrangements were affected by the presence of children in these relationships.

Eighty-one percent of respondents nationwide said they believed that an unmarried man and woman with children constituted a family. This number dropped to 54 percent when people were asked about two lesbians living together as a couple with children and to 52 percent when two gay men were a couple with at least one child.

However, when children were not a factor, approval for less-traditional living arrangements dropped considerably.

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