Peter Kellner of YouGov polled whether Americans think "(a) married people who are found to be having an affair; and (b) openly gay people should be allowed to hold various posts." The political breakdown:
Keller notes that "even among Conservatives, there is now widespread, if far short of universal, acceptance that all the jobs we listed should be open to gays, apart from church minister." Nevertheless, he believes that these numbers "pose a special problem for the Republican Party":
Clearly a large section of its conservative-inclined base feels uneasy about people who depart from a traditional fidelity to family life holding public office; but the proportion of Americans who consistently demand such standards in public life comprises little more than one-tenth of the nation’s adults. If their views provide a foundation for the party’s public platform, it risks alienating many of the people whose votes it will need at future election. Many Republicans may spit out the word "liberal" as a term of abuse; but liberal values now dominate the attitudes of most Americans on the relevance of private sexual morality to public life.
The Dish 