Poll: Solid support for marriage equality in Rhode Island

Nearly 60 percent of registered voters in Rhode Island now say same-sex couples should be able to legally marry, a ten percentage point jump in just the last two years, according to a report on a new poll in the Providence Journal.

Even more encouraging for gay couples, when pollsters clarified the distinction between civil marriages and religious ceremonies, support for legal marriage grew to 66 percent.

“It shows, for the first time, a convincing majority of Rhode Island voters supporting equality,” said David Walker, vice president of Greenberg Quinlan and Rosner Research, a Democratic polling firm based in Washington, D.C., that conducted the poll in July.

“Marriage equality is inevitable,” Walker said. “The question is not whether, but when.”