A majority of Americans now support marriage equality for same-sex couples, according to a new poll released by CBS and the Washington Post. Some 53 percent of respondents said they support allowing same-sex couples to marry, up from 36 percent just five years ago.

Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, responded to the findings by questioning the wording of the questions in the poll.

“The only poll that counts is a free and fair vote on the part of the people,” Brown told the Post. “We’ve seen these biased polls time and time again — right before votes in which same-sex marriage is rejected. It’s absurd. The people of this country have not changed their opinion about marriage.”

Advocates for same-sex marriage disagreed.

“This is very consistent with a lot of other polling data we’ve seen and the general momentum we’ve seen over the past year and a half,” Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, was quoted as saying in the story. “As people have come to understand this is about loving, committed families dealing, like everyone, with tough times, they understand how unfair it is to treat them differently.”

The poll, released after President Barack Obama's Department of Justice announced it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, highlights a growing trend of support for marriage equality. According to the Post, recent surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center, the Associated Press and CNN show a similar cultural shift.