The Republicans and Gay Marriage

This is a problem for the Republican Party:

The poll shows that 58 percent of Americans now believe it should be legal for gay and lesbian couples to get married; 36 percent say it should be illegal. Public attitudes toward gay marriage are a mirror image of what they were a decade ago: in 2003, 37 percent favored gay nuptials, and 55 percent opposed them.

 And also:

Among young adults age 18 to 29, support for gay marriage is overwhelming, hitting a record high of 81 percent  in the new poll. Support has also been increasing among older adults, but those aged 65 years old and up remain opposed, on balance: 44 percent say same-sex marriage should be legal; 50 percent say illegal.

At the same time the poll notes that 59% of Republicans think gay marriage should be illegal, while 34% think it should be legal.

So basically, Republicans hold a policy preference that differs pretty wildly from the majority of Americans. In a pure democracy they would just lose elections, gay marriage would become legal, and we would all move on to other issues. Luckily for conservatives, the United States has enough anti-democratic institutional checks that, despite losing elections, they can still prevent the federal government from moving on this issue. This is good for conservatives but bad for the Republican party because they are stuck advocating unpopular beliefs and attempting to slow the inevitable.