The question of whether people with same-sex orientation are born that way has been a recent issue in the presidential campaign. Republican candidate Dr. Ben Carson set off a minor controversy when he suggested people “absolutely” choose to be gay or lesbian, citing same-sex activity among prisoners as evidence. He later apologized for those comments. Another Republican candidate, Marco Rubio, addressed the issue directly, saying that while he does not support same-sex marriage, he does believe people are born gay or lesbian.

Neither viewpoint is out of step with the views of GOP supporters, as Republicans, including Republican-leaning independents, are evenly divided on whether Americans are born gay or lesbian (40%) or whether same-sex orientation is determined by environmental factors (36%). However, even that is a dramatic shift for Republicans, as it represents the first time they have not attributed being gay or lesbian to environmental factors by at least a small margin.