Looks like the debate will solve itself (mostly) in 20 years or so.

No unit on the horizontal axis.

Hence the frenzy to get anti-same sex legislation and constitutional amendments - to leave a legacy of discrimination for future generations

Is it me, or does every age cohort in Florida appear to have a slightly higher percentage of gay-marriage supporters than Michigan (the one above it), but the "All" category is slightly below Michigan's? This leads me to conclude that a significant number of people in Florida refuse to give their age and are the same people who don't support gay rights.

That said, it's alarming to realize that the question of, "Well everyone around me seems to support gay marriage, but is that just because of who I'm around?" is answered with a resounding, "Yes." As a 21-year old in Massachusetts, it appears that I am not meeting a lot of the people who don't. Good to know.

no surprise here. The people with the most perverted, backwards views on sex get a little touchy when you ask whether it should be legalized.

Notice that the youngest cohort in the state with the least support for same sex marriage (Alabama) is more supportive of it than the oldest cohort in the most supportive state (Mass.)

Oh. This has given me hope on a not-so-good day. We're getting there.

I really don't want to hate on the elderly or anything, but what the hell is with the 10-20% gap on opinions? Seriously, how to the majority of the elderly rationalize such hatred and disapproval towards people getting married that are decades younger than them? How does this effect their lives? It's not like people that age have young children anymore. Not that the "think of the children" excuse is rational, but I guess I would expect it more from people who have children, rather than people who raised children a while ago or not at all.

It's also quite troubling too that the elderly population is also some of the most vulnerable to other sorts of bigotries and abuses, like poverty and medical abuse and malpractice, but they seem to be so against the civil rights of other vulnerable demographics. It's kind of contrary to how it usually works.

Although, it might make sense a bit. Think of the demographics of people most likely to reach 65: middle-class whites. I would expect that the portion of the population that is vulnerable in any other variable, besides gender, to discrimination has a higher chance of not making it to 65 than the demographic with the most privilege.

It's too bad they don't show support for "civil unions". My impression is that even among a lot of the older age ranges shown the whole argument is semantic. You can let gay people in a civil union have the exact same benefits as marriage, but call it a different word and no one has a problem.

Personally, I think the government should only issue civil unions. After all from the governments perspective "marriage" is just a formal structure for child custody and inheritance, with some tax benefits. Marriage could then retain it's religious connotations. Anyone who wants to could call themselves married could do so based on their own criteria. If you're religious get a priest to do a marriage ceremony; if you're an atheist get a ship's captain or something.

I've known this for years, since my grandmother regularly says things like slavery was the best thing for black people because it got them out of africa and god hates the gays. However, every single one of her grandchildren are super-liberal, educated women. Those views die with her.

A fascinating graph, interesting to see the progression of states. I just wanted to point out the optical illusion to everybody. Youth in Alabama are only 1-2% more in support for same-sex marriage than the 65+ group Massachusetts, but it looks like considerably more than that due to the sloped lines. Get out your ruler if you don't believe me. :-)

The assumption that social liberalism will necessarily follow an age cohort through its lifecycle has not been empirically demonstrated. I believe as 18-29s move into middle age they will likely become more respectful of traditions and social conventions than might have been the case in their youth. "Waiting on the world to change" might be a strategy, but I wouldn't put any money on it.

According to this chart, Maine should have voted in favor of legalizing gay marriage. Either the numbers are too optimistic, or the younger, more progressive citizens didn't bother to vote. Either one is a sad thing.

Perhaps the greater question is how was the question worded? Was it, are you AGAINST gay marriage. FOR gay marriage. NOT OPPOSED to gay marriage? There is a big difference in showing indifference (youth) to a subject and being FOR a subject. I think as people age their opinions become much more concrete... an opposition to change (even in the mind) as people age is normal.

Strange that Alaska fewer people in favor than Wisconsin in each of the age ranges 18-29, 30-44, 45-64 and 65+, but a higher average -- the under 18's must be very progressive in Alaska eh?

Strange that Alaska has fewer people in favor than Wisconsin in each of the age ranges 18-29, 30-44, 45-64 and 65+, but a higher average -- the under 18's must be very progressive in Alaska eh?

I'm simply agog that we are voting on civil rights. What do you suppose the outcome would be were we to return to 1964 and hold a referendum on granting
equal rights to African-Americans?

I'm gay and about to enter the 29th year of my relationship. Could someone please tell me what threat equal rights for my partner and me poses to the institution of marriage?

I want my federal civil rights NOW.

I see all of the commenters here as being the hypocrites that most of the gay and lesbian world tend to be.

Where do you all get off supporting the government telling us how many people can be a loving family? Where did this magical number of two come from, and why are you all such hypocrites for supporting this form of discrimination?

I predict things will be much more conservative in the future.

With the coming economic collapse of the United States and the demographic implosions of Japan, Russia and Europe, and the later's Islamization, issues resulting from cultural decadence will take a back seat to more pertinent issues.

I bet the average IQ for these states is directly correlated to the average support for marriage. The dumber the state, the less supportive.

To those who say time will change the issue as the younger population grows older and the older ones die off: Have you never heard the expression “If you are a Republican at 25, you have no heart. If you are a Democrat at 35, you have no brains.” These younger people will age and mature and become more conservative.

I am writing a book on lesbian marriage! I think that same-sex marriage should be allowed in many states and I think same-sex marriage should be supported and respected as any other. I hate when same-sex couples are disrespected. It's not right. I speak my mind on what i believe and what I want to say. I do not care ii you disagree or say " whatever, that girl is crazy." Well i don't care andi want the disrespect to stop. Would you like to be disrespected just because you like the same-sex??? No, You wouldn't, so stop disrespecting and start appreciating.!! thank you to the ones who support same-sex marriage and don't like the disrespect either. I give you lots of thanks! And yes I am gay and i love being this way so if you have a problem with that then too bad, deal with it.

What you believe in has no say in regard to someone else's legal rights.

Coupe of Points:
1) Getting Older = More conservative; Probably true from a material perspective, but not true from a social perspective. In today's world, the older you get, the bigger chance you have to have worked with/known/have in your family gays or lesbians. I believe and probably has been proven empirically, knowing a member of LGBT as an individual tends to change people's feelings.
2) Long Baseline; I'm 47. In my life so far I've seen a swing from Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow" show breathlessly looking at a gay disco in the 70's (which is about all you would see on TV) to massive visibility in the 80's due unfortunately to HIV/AIDS, to Civil Unions and Marriage spreading from Europe in the 90's, to full legalization of sex in the us in early 2000, and the debate shifting from fully from imprisonment to marriage.
3) Instead of people coming out LGBT in their 50's, 40's, 30's, or 20's the average age is now 13. When I grew up I never knowingly saw an LGBT person until I moved to LA. Now kids are socialized to them for the last five years of school country-wide. It changes everything, and like civil rights, can't be rolled back easily. Time is on our side.

I am almost in tears, to think some of you would equate being gay with being black is the issue, and part of civil rights. My question then how many are you out there that are Black. Just as I thought, As General Colin Powell said many months ago, do not confuse this issue, being black and being gay are two different things, meaning, their cannot be any confusion about civil rights and the lame excuse by many of you; It not about older people, ecc, it is simply wrong, when I see a male lion mount another male and when the same occurs between two lioness I will be converted. Otherwise, this is a very sick discussion.

Now I like how you have started to display the data spatially, but I would love to get this data for a GIS project. Being from Georgia I would love to see if there are any correlation patterns around Atlanta and/or college universities. While age ranges tend to imple collegiate study this could not be the case. I could make an interesting map with this data.

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Would be interesting to also include number of Electoral votes each state gets and a "running total" from the top down (e.g. Mass has 12, Vermont 3 (tot 15), RI 4 (tot 19), Conn 7 (tot 25)...) Figure the avg will move 10 pts to the right every 15 years... seems like ~20 years away from the political reality (enough Senators and Reps to pass support) of same sex marriage...