Reader opinion on same-sex marriage, 2010 versus 2015

Here's a look at the results of the blog reader poll on same-sex marriage. First, on the policy question, readers who responded were in favor of allowing same-sex marriage by a vote of more than 2-1:

I asked an identical poll question in 2010. Importantly, it's impossible to make a perfect comparison between the results of this poll and the same poll in 2010. We don't know how the responding readership has shifted in five years, so we may be comparing apples and oranges. But for those interested, here are the 2010 results when I asked readers the same question:

Favor same-sex marriage: 61%
Oppose same-sex marriage: 33%
Don't know: 6%

If we assume that VC readers are basically the same group today as they were in 2010, that's a relatively small shift in the ballpark of about 10% over five years.

On the constitutional question, VC readers who answered today's poll were nearly evenly divided:

Here are the 2010 results for the same question:

Laws banning same-sex marriage are constitutional: 54%
Laws banning same-sex marriage are unconstitutional: 39%
Don't know: 9%

Again, it's impossible to make a perfect comparison between the results of this poll and the 2010 poll. The wording is the same, but we don't know how the responding readership has shifted. Still, if we assume that VC readers are basically the same group today as they were in 2010, that's also about a 10% shift since 2010.