Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch said in a radio interview on Wednesday that he believes gay marriage is on the road to becoming legalized nationally.
While he has not come out in support of same-sex marriage, he told the "Doug Wright Show" on KSL Radio that it is essentially inevitable.
"Let's face it, anybody who does not believe that gay marriage is going to be the law of the land just hasn't been observing what's going on. There is a question whether [the courts] should be able to tell the states what they can or cannot do with something as important as marriage, but the trend right now in the courts is to permit gay marriage and anybody who doesn't admit that just isn't living in the real world," Hatch said.
Additionally, the senator commended the recent rulings by U.S. District Judges Robert Shelby and Dale Kimball, which were both seen as steps in the right direction in the fight for marriage equality.
"We have an excellent federal bench [in Utah]. Other federal judges down there might not have arrived at the same conclusion that these two have. But I think it's a portent of the future that sooner or later gay marriage is probably going to be approved by the Supreme Court of the United States, certainly as the people in this country move towards it, especially young people," Hatch said.
In a recent Gallup poll, 55 percent of Americans expressed their support for gay marriage, increasing two points since 2013 and at the highest it's ever been since it was first asked in 1966 -- when 68 percent of Americans opposed it.
Poll researchers claim the continual increase for pro-gay marriage attitudes is a result of so many state courts striking bans on it.
"Proponents of marriage equality, years of playing offense have finally paid off as this movement has reached a tipping point in recent years - both legally and in the court of public opinion," Gallup reported. "Gay marriage supporters' game strategy has officially pivoted to challenging state bans in court. ... Younger Americans are more supportive of same-sex marriage, and this will likely continue to drive overall support at the gradual pace it has increased over recent years."
On Thursday, Public Policy Polling claimed they have yet to find a state that has run into trouble after legalizing same-sex marriage.
"We have not found a state yet where after gay marriage became legal voters there really found it to be problematic," the research group said on Twitter.