New Poll: Majority of Young Republicans Back Same-Sex Marriage

A new Pew Research poll finds that the most Republicans between the ages of 18 and 29 believe same-sex couples should be able to legally tie the knot.

According to the data, 61 percent of young Republicans and those who lean to the right in that age group back the legalization of gay marriage. Just 36 percent opposed same-sex marriage. Regarding the hot-button social issue, the gap between the young and the old is "more striking than within the Republican coalition," Pew Research Center writes.

That's because only 27 percent of Republicans ages 50 and older believe in marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Young Republicans were unsurprisingly more in line with Democrats on the issue. The poll found that Democrats 65 years of age and older favor gay marriage by a two-to-one margin.

The poll also asked views on same-sex parenting: only 18 percent of Republicans under 30 said same-sex raising children will negatively impact America. Twenty-six percent said it's a good thing while 56 percent said it doesn't make a difference or they don't know.

The results of the poll come just a few days after a national poll by ABC and the Washington Post found that gay marriage support is at an all-time high with 59 percent of Americans backing gay marriage.