MONTPELIER, VT  --  More than half of all Vermonters now support same-sex marriage, an eight percent jump in support in the past year alone, according to a new opinion survey.

WPTZ reports:

"A majority of nearly 7,000 Vermonters completing opinion surveys on Town Meeting Day said they favor same-sex marriage. 54-percent said they support allowing gay couples to marry while 37-percent were opposed.

"That represents an 8-per cent jump in support for same-sex marriage in the last year, noted Johnson State College political science professor and state Sen. William Doyle of Washington County who compiles the results each March.

"The Doyle survey is not a scientific poll, but a sampling of views of voters taking part in Town Meeting Day. The preliminary results released to NewsChannel Five Monday are based on the first 6,800 surveys tabulated."

Vermont recognizes civil unions, but not marriage, of same-sex couples in accordance with a law that went into effect in 2000. Parties to a civil union are given all the same benefits, protections and responsibilities under Vermont law, whether they derive from statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law or any other source of civil law, as are granted to spouses in a marriage.

Last update: 03-26-2008 13:41