Data Commentary II - Same-sex marriage

ESL 5301-001 Gay Marriage
Data Commentary II

1. Data Commentary-2

The recent poll conducted by The Huffington Post concluded that the majority of Americans believe that the Kentucky clerk, Kim Davis, should go to jail for contempt of the Supreme Court order. According to the results, the majority think that she should issue a marriage license and obey the court order. The poll also suggests that she should consider resigning the job, if she is uncomfortable in issuing the marriage license to same sex couples. The data show that 52% of the respondents believe that government officials should perform the tasks without any kind of religious bias, while 30% of the respondents disagreed with the same concept. It is interesting to note that the political beliefs of the respondents have highly influenced their opinion on the polls. The data show that 70% the Democrats, 50% of the Independents and 40% of the Republicans supported the idea that Ms. Davis should issue the marriage license. The second question being asked was whether Ms. Davis should face the jail time and the percentage of people who supported that were 72% for the Democrats, 50% for the Independents and 42% for the Republicans. The third question for the poll was whether Ms. Davis should resign from her job, and the percentages of people who supported that idea were 75% for the Democrats, 60% for the Independents and 60% for the Republicans. The article also briefly describes how the religious beliefs of the people affect their opinion based on HuffPost/YouGov poll data. The data suggested that 81% of Republicans and 76% of evangelical Christians believed that the religious liberty was being threatened. The data also suggested that 43% of the Republicans who are born-again Christians think Ms. Davis should be allowed to stay in her job but should be allowed her choice to not issue marriage licenses to the same sex couples. However, 60% of total Republicans wanted her to resign the job. (Sankar)

Levy, A.E. (2015, September 9). Most Americans Support Sending Kim Davis To Jail, Poll Shows. The Huffington Post. Retrieved on September 17, 2015 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kim-davis-poll_55f04a65e4b002d5c0776f39

 2. Data Commentary - 2

An article in Gallup.com dated May 19th 2015 discusses clearly the outcome of a poll conducted among a thousand twenty four Americans aged eighteen and above to calculate the percentage of American population accepting same-sex marriages as legal. From the poll outcomes, it can easily be deduced that the percentage of Americans supporting the same-sex marriage increased from 27% in 1996 to 60% in 2015. It should be noted from the survey results that the support for same-sex marriage crossed above 50% in 2011 for the first time in the history of the United States. In addition to the general view among the American population, the poll results highlight that the Democrats provide major support for legalizing same-sex marriage while Republicans show the least support. Independent candidates typically provide more support than the Republicans. The article attributes the observed difference in the opinion between the Democrats and Republicans to the age-group of people comprising these parties. It also states that the majority of the younger American generation lean towards Democrats whereas most of the older generation support Republicans. Finally, it can be summarized that the support for homosexual marriages increased among the American population. Also, a majority of the young American generation who are Democrats support same-sex marriages while the older generation opposes it. (Sriramvignesh)

Reference

McCarthy, J. (2015, May 19th). Record-High 60% of Americans Support Same-Sex Marriage. Gallup.com. Retrieved on September 18, 2015 from http://www.gallup.com/poll/183272/record-high-americans-support-sex-marriage.aspx

3. Percentage of Americans who favor same-sex marriage by political party

PEW Research Center has conducted a research to study percentage of Americans who favor same-sex marriage by political party during the period between the years 2003 and 2015. The results were published in the Business Insider website. The research has compared between levels of support to same-sex marriage among Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

According to the outcomes, there is clearly a growing support trend to same-sex marriage across the covered period, among all participants, regardless of their political views.

The outcomes also show that the highest support has been mostly coming from Democrats, slightly followed by Independents, and then come the Republicans with relatively lower levels of support.

Support levels starts at 42% among the Democrats, 40% among the Independents, and 22% among the Republicans during 2003, and continued to grow throughout the research covered period to reach 64% among both Democrats and Independents, and 35% among Republicans in 2015.

A possible explanation to the growing support trend is the influence of the media, and the way same-sex related issues are covered in the news and even in drama.

Regarding the relatively lower support levels for same-sex marriage among Republicans, a possible reason would be the relatively conservative culture of the Republican Party, which is widely considered as a more religion-friendly party. (Muhammad)

Survey | Percentage of Americans who favor same-sex marriage by political party (PEW Research Center)
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-over-60-percent-of-republicans-oppose-court-on-gay-marriage-reuters/ipsos-poll-2015-7

4. Data Commentary-2

According to a recent Washington Post- ABC News Poll, a majority of people said that Kim Davis should issue marriage licenses to gay couples even if she has strong religious beliefs. The survey found out that most of the people supported the idea of being treated equally under the law regardless of someone’s religion. This survey was conducted from September 7 to 10 among 1,003 random adults, which included people who responded on landline and cellphone and is considered to have a sampling error of plus or minus 3.5%. The pie chart in the survey shows that 63% of the people feel that the county clerk should be required to issue marriage licenses to gay couples regardless of her religious backgrounds, whereas 33% do not agree with this idea. The second graph in the survey showed the Democrats’, Republicans’ and Independents’ viewpoint in regards to treating people equally. Nearly 80% of Democrats said that people should be treated equally while this percentage in case of Independents was found out to be 75% and 66% for Republicans. Nearly half, about 49% of the conservatives said that Ms. Davis should not be compelled to violate her religious beliefs while 45% of the conservatives said she should be required to perform her duties. It could be seen that even though many of the conservatives are in favor of Ms. Davis’s idea of not issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, still the majority of the population feels that she should issue marriage licenses regardless of her religious grounds. We expect to have a similar result while we survey the students and faculty members in Texas Tech. (Harnoor)

Reference-

Somashekhar, S. & Craighill, M.,P. (2015, September 15). Post ABC poll: Most say Kim Davis should issue marriage licenses to gay couples. The Washington Post. Retrieved on September 17, 2015 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/poll-most-say-kim-davis-should-issue-marriage-licenses-to-gay-couples/2015/09/14/684e6d62-5b0a-11e5-b38e-06883aacba64_story.html

5. Data Commentary 02

The survey named “May 8-11 Values and Belief” conducted by Gallup has revealed the increasingly positive views of most Americans on gay adoption. According to the graph included in the survey that shows how American people since 1992 have replied to question, “Do you think same-sex couples should or should not have the legal right to adopt a child?”, the percentage of “Yes” answers has considerably increased over two past decades from 29% (1992) to 63% (2014); whereas, the opposing rate at the same time has declined from 63% (1992) to 35% (2014). There was only a little different development in 2007 with the reverse tendency: increasing opponents (from 48% to 50%) and decreasing supporters (from 49% to 46%). Another figure resulted from the survey and titled “Same-sex Couples and Adoption, by Age”, confirmed that so far as in 2014, the majority of all four age groups are proponents for same-sex couples’ right to adopt children. With 77% of people at the age of 18-29 and 52% for 65-and-over-year-olds saying homosexual couples should have the legal right to adopt a child, this table also shows that the younger people’s ages are, the more likely they favor gay adoption. In sum, gay adoption has gained more support from American people, especially the young. Legalizing this adoption right nationwide may be the follow-up goal for same-sex couples after getting their marriage licenses. (Nam)

Reference:

Swift, A. (May 30, 2014). Most Americans say same-sex couples entitled to adopt. Gallup. Retrieved on September 17, 2015 from: http://www.gallup.com/poll/170801/americans-say-sex-couples-entitled-adopt.aspx

6. Commentary 2

From the gay marriage survey, I am very interested in the difference among different political parties. The Washington Post-ABC News polls made a survey from 2004 to 2013 year to investigate how the political parties’ attitude to gay couples changed in recent years. The sampling number was 1,001 and they were divided into three groups: Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. The result plot began at 2004 and ended at 2013. From the observation we can easily tell that support towards gay marriage legalization increased in the recent decade, and the opposite voice tends to decrease accordingly. Generally, the trends from different political parties are very similar to each other. However, the difference from the data it still obvious. Democrats’ support for gay marriage raised from 46% to 72%, and the opponents dropped from 50% to 23%. At the same time, the supporters of Independents raised by 15%, while its opponents dropped by 17%. Republicans’ views to this issue seemed to be comparably stable; the percentage of opponents in 2004 year is 72% and in 2013 percentage just changes to 59%; both of the numbers are the highest among the three groups. Similarly, its number of supporters are the lowest at the very beginning, which changed from 24% to 34%. From these plots we can see that Republicans are still the most conservative for legalizing gay marriage. On the contrary, Democrats are the most hospitable parties to this issue, and Independents share a similar trend with it. For the upcoming survey we will make next week, this report inspires me a lot for understanding the political difference related to the same-sex marriage issue and I am very much looking forward to seeing how Texas Tech students will respond to this question. (Jieying)

Reference:

New poll proves national majority support same-sex marriage. (2013, March 20). Equally Wed. Retrieved in September 17, 2015 from:
http://equallywed.com/new-poll-proves-national-majority-support-same-sex-marriage/

7. Survey Analysis

The PEW research Center made a study in June of 2015 with the aim of sensing the growth in the support for same-sex marriage. The research center based its study in surveys made between years 2005 and the year 2015. The surveys consigned four generation of people: Millennials, people who were born after 10980; Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980; Baby boom, born between 1946 and 1964 and Silent, who were born between 1928 and 1945. The last of the surveys made conducted among 2002 adults in all the States of the country.

The results show an important growth in the support of same-sex marriage. The support is led in all the period by Millennials, followed by Generation X. The survey also analyzed the support in terms of educational level. Students are mostly in favor and the more. This tendency is clearer in College and post-graduate students. The minor difference between favor and oppose can be seen at High school level. In terms of religious affiliation, the support for same-sex marriage is led by unaffiliated. White mainline Protestants and Catholics affiliates support mostly same-sex marriage. (Elliot)

PRC (2015, June 8). Support for Same-Sex Marriage at Record High, but Key Segments Remain Opposed. Pew Research Center. Retrieved on September 17, 2015 from http://www.people-press.org/2015/06/08/section-1-changing-views-of-same-sex-marriage/

8. Data Commentary #2

The support for gays and lesbians is becoming social and has been growing in various ways during the last ten years. During these years those who oppose are from 58% falling to 44%, and those who favor are from 33% increasing to 49%.

These are some differences during the different age period. Millennial, Gen X, Baby boom and Silent are increasing during 2003 to 2013. In this graph, we can see Millennial’s support is from 51% increasing to 70% during the past decade; gay marriage gained more support among Millennials than others, because Millennials are younger and more open to accept the gay marriage than the older people in the U.S.A.

According this graph, we can see the rising support for gay marriage over the past decade. The article, “Growing Support for Gay Marriage: Changed Minds and Changing Demographics” shows that a increasing support from young adults – the Millennial generation – who are far more open to gay rights than previous generations. And it will continue increasing further. (Songhe)

Reference:

Pew Research Center. (2013. Mar,20). Growing Support for Gay Marriage: Changed Minds and Changing Demographics. Retrieved on Mar.20, 2013 from: http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/20/growing-support-for-gay-marriage-changed-minds-and-changing-demographics/
 
9. Data Commentary

According to a survey about whether female homosexual couples should be allowed to adopt a baby, graphs show the percentage supporting attitudes from four religion groups of people: Anglicans, Catholics, other Christians and No religion, in the period from 1985 to 2007. Every graph has the same pattern; it starts with a low percentage (10 - 20) and keeps going down until 1987, and rises up until around 1990, and goes down a little and keeps straightforwardly rising up from 1993 to the end of survey (2007).

The final inclinations of every graph have an interesting thing; although the no religion has the highest percentage ( > 50%) of support, the Catholics' graph has the highest inclination, which means that the Catholics now trend to change their mind toward allowing lesbian’s adoption significantly. The trend of the graph shows that the Catholics will come to have the highest support of allowing lesbian’s adoption in 12 years. For the first trend of the graphs, every group is going down; I assume that is the booming of religion, but after 1987, every graph is going up, but they stop increasing in 1990 and go down again, which means some religion attempt but after 1993 the graphs don't have their ways to stop which I notice the change in people believe. (Ariyawat)

Clements, B. (2011, August 8). Attitudes towards Gay Rights. British Religion in Numbers. Retrieved on September 17, 2015 from
http://www.brin.ac.uk/figures/attitudes-towards-gay-rights/