Majorities of Millennials, Gen X and Boomers now favor same-sex marriage % who favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry
Younger Americans continue to be more likely than older Americans to say they favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally: Fully 74% of Millennials (ages 18 to 36) say they favor same-sex marriage, while just 23% say they are opposed. And by more than two-to-one, more Generation Xers (those ages 37 to 52) favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry than oppose same-sex marriage (65% vs. 29%).
Support for same-sex marriage among older adults also has increased over the past ten years. Today, a 56%-majority of Boomers (those ages 53 to 71) say they favor allowing legal same-sex marriage, while a smaller share (39%) say they are opposed.
Support among Boomers has increased since March 2016, when just less than half (46%) said they favored same-sex marriage. Among the Silent generation (those ages 72 to 89), 49% oppose allowing gays and lesbians to marry, while 41% favor this. However, support for same-sex marriage has nearly doubled among members of the Silent generation since 2007, when just 24% said they were in favor.
Majorities of Millennials, Gen X and  | Boomers now favor same-sex marriage  | % who favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry  | legally  | 74 Millennial 1980  | born after 1980  | 70  | 65 Gen 1965-1980 X  | 1965-1980  | 56 Boomer  | 1946-1964  | Silent  | 41 Silent 1928-1945  | 39  | 24  | 2007  | 2012  | 2017  | Note: Data Survey for 2007-2015 based onyearly 2017 averages.  | Source: Data Survey 2007-2015 conducted June based 8-18 onyearly 2017 averages.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 