Confidence that same-sex marriage will be overwhelmingly carried in the forthcoming referendum has been undermined by the findings of a new poll.

According to a Red C Poll compiled for the Sunday Business Post last weekend, while there is still majority support for proposition, at 77%, researchers describe this as ‘soft support’ which could be lost by voting day. As evidence of this, pollsters point out that of those 1,005 adults surveyed for the Red C poll, 46% admitted through further responses that they had “some reservations” on the issue of gay marriage. Just 44% stated that they will not change their intention to vote ‘Yes’ on the day.

Added to these figures, the poll also revealed that 38% of respondents have reservations about gay adoption, but that 81% of people believed that gay unions should enjoy the same rights as traditional family units.

The Red C poll results of last weekend show little variation over similar polls conducted in February 2013 and the previous November, though reservations on gay adoption declined somewhat, from 41% to the current 38%.