Younger adults are evenly split over gay marriages, but older Americans are opposed by a 4-1 margin, according to a poll examining attitudes about homosexuality.

The poll, released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, found that opposition to gay marriage increased the older people became.

While younger people in general were more apt to approve of gay marriage — those between ages 20 and 30 were about evenly split on favoring or opposing — the poll found that among those in their 60s and 70s, opponents outnumbered supporters by more than four to one.

Opposition to gay marriage has grown since midsummer, with 32 percent favoring it and 59 percent opposing it. In July, 53 percent said they opposed gay marriage, and 38 percent approved.

Political attitudes sharply affected beliefs about gay marriage. Four in five of those who say they would vote to re-elect President Bush oppose gay marriage, while those who prefer that a Democrat win the presidency are evenly split on the question.

Massachusetts' highest court ruled Tuesday that the state constitution gives same-sex couples the right to marry but stopped short of allowing marriage licenses to be issued to couples who challenged a ban on gay marriage. The Supreme Judicial Court's 4-3 ruling ordered the state Legislature to come up with a solution within 180 days.

The Pew poll showed the public to be evenly divided on whether gays and lesbians can alter their sexual orientation, with white Evangelicals are the most likely to think homosexuals can become heterosexual, the poll said.

"Evangelicals are far more likely to say homosexuals can change, Catholics and mainline Protestants fall in the middle and more secular people are most likely to say they cannot change," said Scott Keeter, a pollster with the center.

The survey reinforced the finding that religious attitudes sharply affect feelings on gays and homosexual behavior. Those with a high level of religious commitment oppose gay marriage by 80 percent to 12 percent.

Americans with college degrees were closely divided on the question of gay marriage, with 49 percent opposed and 44 percent in favor of allowing that option.

The survey found the public has moved toward widespread opposition to discrimination generally against homosexuals, despite the opposition to gay marriage.

Most Americans, 55 percent, say they feel that homosexuality is a sin, while 33 percent disagree. Nine in 10 highly committed white Evangelicals and nearly three-quarters of black Protestants say homosexual behavior is sinful.

The poll of 1,515 adults was taken Oct. 15-19 by the Pew Research Center on behalf of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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