Bermuda’s voters remain evenly split on the issue of whether same-sex marriage should be legalised, according to a survey commissioned by The Royal Gazette.

Respondents were asked in a telephone poll this month if same-sex marriage should be legalised and 45 per cent said yes, compared with 48 per cent who said no.

The results are similar to a poll conducted for this newspaper last October, when we asked the same question and found 48 per cent of respondents for marriage equality and 44 per cent against.

The margin of error for the poll was +/- 5 per cent at the 95 per cent confidence level, meaning if the survey was run 100 times — asking a different sample of people each time — the overall percentage of people who said yes would range between 40 per cent and 50 per cent most (95 per cent) of the time.

Support for marriage equality is much stronger among whites than blacks, according to the latest results, with 74 per cent of whites for the unions, compared with only 28 per cent of blacks.

The age group most in favour of same-sex marriage is the youngest: 51 per cent of those 18 to 34 said it should be legalised, compared with 31 per cent of senior citizens (aged 65 and above). More women than men were against legalising same-sex marriage — half the females we polled said they were either strongly opposed or opposed, compared with 44 per cent of males.

Our poll also asked voters if they supported the decision by the Bermuda Government to hold a referendum on same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Fifty-eight per cent agreed with a referendum, compared with 34 per cent who did not and 8 per cent who did not know. A breakdown by race shows that 68 per cent of whites and 53 per cent of blacks supported the referendum.

Our October poll was held as public debate on marriage equality was heating up: the Government had just announced a series of public information sessions on the topic in response to campaigner Tony Brannon’s petition to have same-sex marriage legalised.

Since then, the pressure group Preserve Marriage has been running a publicity campaign to try to stop same-sex marriage from being legalised in Bermuda, bringing in speakers from abroad, distributing flyers and paying for prominent newspaper adverts.

The group, which pushed for a referendum, became a limited liability company in December and has now applied for charitable status.

Last month, the Government announced it would hold a referendum this summer and tabled in Parliament an amendment to the Matrimonial Causes Act, which would allow discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in relation to weddings. It also released draft legislation for same-sex civil unions for “consultation purposes”.

Michael Dunkley, the Premier, told the House of Assembly this month that the referendum would likely be held in mid-to-late June.

Voters will be asked two questions: are you in favour of same-sex marriage in Bermuda? And are you in favour of same-sex civil unions in Bermuda?

A publicity campaign is expected from both Preserve Marriage and those in favour of marriage equality once the referendum date is set. Those in favour include the Human Rights Commission, the Rainbow Alliance, Marriage Equality Bermuda, Two Words and a Comma, and Same Love Bermuda.

Our latest poll of 400 registered voters was carried out between March 7 and 14 by Global Research and the results were weighted to be representative of the island’s population in relation to age, race and gender.