Australian societal change survey shows leap in gay marriage support
Experienced market researcher says huge leap in support of gay marriage is a surprise
05 APRIL 2012 | BY ANNA LEACH
Annual societal change and market research survey AustraliaSCAN shows a rapid rise in the acceptance of gay marriage.
According to the survey, support for gay marriage is now at 41% of the general Australia public, around equal to those against it. In the state of South Australia, support is higher at 56%.
David Chalke, a market researcher who has studied shifts in attitude in Australian society over 20 years told Adelaide Now that he was surprised by the rapid rise in support for the issue.
'I did not expect that to leap up,' Chalke said. 'I'd been watching support slowly increasing at 1 or 2 [percentage] points a year.'
Chalke also said that Australian society was now able to recognise different types of family. 'Family isn't just mum, dad and kids,' he said. 'Family is whatever you want it to be. The world is changing fundamentally and one of the consequences is that we're less obsessed with children.'