A recent Washington Post poll shows that 29 percent of Republicans (and 58 percent of independents) support marriage equality. Yet despite the gains for this position, the Republican Party itself still has a ways to go.
Some conservative groups, notably the Log Cabin Republicans and Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry, have expressed disappoint with the marriage language in this year's Republican Party Platform. As described by Zeke Miller at Buzzfeed, the platform advocates aggresively defending the Defense of Marriage Act, while working to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry have restated the conservative case for marriage equality in a press release:
"We also share the belief that the 'success of marriage directly impacts the economic well-being of individuals,' that it 'affects freedoms,' and that the 'lack of family formation leads to more government costs' and 'more government control over the lives of its citizens in all facets.'
“Given these shared beliefs about marriage, we are very disappointed the Republican platform includes specific language that opposes marriage for same-sex couples.
The Log Cabin Republicans noted similar disappointment in the platform, but also included this pointed statement of optimism:
“Tony Perkins may be boasting today about having written an antigay marriage plank into the Republican Party platform, but it will be a hollow and short-lived victory,” said Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper. “The obsessive exclusion of gay couples, including military families, from the rights and responsibilities of marriage, combined with bizarre rhetoric about ‘hate campaigns’ and ‘the homosexual rights agenda’ are clear signs of desperation among social conservatives who know that public opinion is rapidly turning in favor of equality.