These new poll numbers from Gallup on the question of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell are pretty remarkable:

Americans are six percentage points more likely than they were four years ago to favor allowing openly gay men and lesbian women to serve in the military, 69% to 63%. While liberals and Democrats remain the most supportive, the biggest increase in support has been among conservatives and weekly churchgoers – up 12 and 11 percentage points, respectively.

Gallup Poll data from 2009 reveal that majority support among Americans for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has only strengthened in recent years. Repealing the policy is a promise Obama made on the campaign trail and is one that gay rights groups have recently been more vocal in urging him to fulfill. While the administration to date has not taken action on the issue, the Gallup Poll data indicate that the public-opinion environment favors such a move.

In particular, the more conservative segments of the population who could be expected to be most resistant to such a policy change have shifted in favor of repealing the existing ban, to the extent that majority support now spans all segments of the population.

So, not only do seven in 10 Americans support allowing otherwise-eligible gay volunteers to serve openly, but a clear majority (58%) of conservatives support it, too.

Scrapping DADT wouldn’t just reflect common sense and sound military policy, it’s an idea that enjoys majority support among Americans in every ideology, every political party, every age group, and every region (yes, even the South). Among those who attend church services every week — a group one might expect to support DADT — 60% support gay men and women serving openly in the military.