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Support for marriage equality in Ireland was strikingly broad

Ireland’s historic vote in favor of marriage equality last Friday was, in the end, not especially close, with the yesses carrying almost every electoral district. Still, as Jason Kelleher’s map of the vote shows, there were some very pronounced regional differences:

The Irish marriage equality referendum.

Anyone familiar with the basic sociology of gay rights in the West will be unsurprised to see that support for equality is largest in Dublin and down south in Cork, Ireland’s second city. Support was generally weakest in the northern and western parts of the country, roughly the area known as Connaught.

But overall the picture is of enormously broad support for the referendum, including in most of rural Ireland.

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