Most Americans Support LGBTQIA+ Rights – But Young Republicans Are Bucking The Trend
A survey conducted by PRRI (the Public Religion Research Institute) of more than 22,000 adults across all 50 US states throughout 2025 found that most Americans support LGBTQIA+ rights. So why do the trends tell a different story?
Support for LGBTQIA+ non-discrimination protections was at 72% in 2025. That sounds solid until you note it was 80% just three prior. Support for same-sex marriage has dropped, too, from 69% in 2022 to 65% today. The direction matters.
The geography of acceptance
Where someone lives shapes their views significantly. In Massachusetts and Maryland, more than 80% of residents support non-discrimination protections for LGBTQIA+ people. In Arkansas, that figure drops to 53%. Wyoming comes in at 57%, and Mississippi at 60%.
Same-sex marriage now commands majority support in 48 out of 50 states. The two exceptions are Mississippi at 47% and Arkansas at 50%.
The partisan divide is getting harder to ignore
Democrats support LGBTQIA+ non-discrimination protections at 90%. Republicans sit at 56%, a figure that has dropped by 10 percentage points since 2022. Only 49% of Republicans support same-sex marriage, compared with 83% of Democrats.
On religious exemptions, 82% of Democrats oppose allowing businesses to refuse service to LGBTQIA+ people on religious grounds. Among Republicans, that number is 35%.
What about religion?
The data challenge the assumption that religious Americans are uniformly opposed. Majorities across nearly every major religious group support non-discrimination protections, ranging from 54% among white evangelical Protestants to 92% among Unitarian Universalists. Jehovah’s Witnesses are the only major group where a majority support does not exist.
Young Americans are shifting, too
This is the finding that complicates the usual narrative. Support among 18 to 29-year-olds for LGBTQIA+ non-discrimination protections has fallen from 80% in 2015 to 70% in 2025. Among young Republicans specifically, that drop is 24 percentage points, from 74% down to 50%.
The 2025 American Values Atlas (AVA) from PRRI gives a detailed picture of where public opinion actually sits. Most Americans still back LGBTQIA+ rights in principle. But the margins are narrowing, and the divisions by geography, party, and age are becoming harder to dismiss.
