A new report from University of Washington researchers shows that in recent years, support for expanding the rights of domestic partnerships in the state has grown.

The support also appears to be widespread, said Matt Barreto, an associate professor of political science who leads The Washington Poll. He and doctoral student Betsy Cooper examined survey data from 2006 through 2008.

In 2008, 66 percent of registered voters in Washington state supported either same-sex marriage (37 percent) or domestic partnerships that have all the rights of marriage (29 percent). That was an overall increase of 7 percentage points from 2006. According to the report, this support comes from across the state and from a wide variety of groups.

The most recent polling data from a year ago showed that in the Puget Sound region, 71 percent of people surveyed supported full rights for same-sex couples, compared with 56 percent in Eastern Washington.

Large majorities of independents (64 percent), moderates (78 percent), Democrats (86 percent) and liberals (92 percent) supported full rights, and a bare majority of Republicans (53 percent) supported full rights as well.

Those identified as conservatives, however, were strongly opposed to equal rights, with only 38.5 percent in favor.

"Three years of public opinion data indicate solid support for full domestic partnership rights in Washington State," Barreto said.

However, the data does not show how respondents would vote on Referendum 71, a measure which places the "all but marriage" law approved by the Legislature on the November ballot.

In October, Barreto and his team will conduct a new poll to determine voter attitudes about the referendum. In the November election, voters will be asked to approve or reject Senate Bill 5688, which expands rights of domestic partners - either same-sex couples or heterosexual couples over the age of 62 - so they match those of married couples.

The Washington Poll is a nonpartisan academic research project paid for with UW research funds. Each October from 2006 to 2008, poll takers interviewed a random selection of 600 to 1,000 registered voters across the state. The poll sampling error margin was plus or minus 4 percentage points. Full results of the surveys are at http://www.washingtonpoll.org .

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For more information, contact Barreto at 909-489-2955 or mbarreto@u.washington.edu ; Betsy Cooper at 615-975-9480 or cooperel@u.washington.edu .