US court ruling boosts approval of same sex marriage in Canada

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US court ruling boosts approval of same sex marriage in Canada

Increase in approval seen among oldest

TORONTO June 29th, 2015 - In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1221 Canadian adults immediately after the US Supreme Court ruled in its favour, 7-in-10 approve of same sex marriage (70%), and this is a very slight increase overall since the last time we polled this (March 2015 - 68%). One quarter disapprove of same sex marriage now (22%) and then (24%). Just fewer than one tenth don’t have an opinion (8% both waves).


While the increase overall is slight, it is interesting that it is concentrated in older age groups (55 to 64 - 62% to 66%, 65+ - 53% to 59%) and males (62% to 67%), groups that traditionally resist tolerance. Quebec has seen an increase in approval (68% to 78%), while BC has seen a drop (75% to 63%).

Disapproval of same sex marriage is common to the oldest (30%), the less wealthy ($20K to $40K - 33%), in Alberta (33%), the least educated (31%) and, especially, among Conservatives (41%).

"While the Supreme Court’s decision may not have had a significant effect overall, it has moved the needle among important groups who formerly were resistant to acceptance of same sex marriage, the older males in lower income brackets," said Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff.

Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.