Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage aligns with public opinion

The Supreme Court issued an historic decision to allow same-sex marriage in all 50 states Friday. The ruling aligned itself with years of social change nationwide. (Read the full opinion here.)

More than 780,000 Americans already are estimated to be in a same-sex marriage, according to an April poll from Gallup. Nearly three-quarters of Americans already thought that same-sex marriage was “inevitable,” according to survey data from the Public Religion Research Institute. And six out of 10 respondents said that they supported marriage equality for all, Gallup reported in May.

Along generational lines, support for same-sex marriage was even more striking. Nearly 70 percent of Millennials said they are in favor of same-sex marriage, while 38 percent of members of the Silent generation said the same, the Pew Research Center reported in February 2014.

With today’s Supreme Court’s decision, the United States now joins 20 other nations that have legalized same-sex marriage.