Opposition to same-sex marriage increasingly presents a liability for candidates hoping to move into the White House -- and that includes Republicans, the Christian Science Monitor reported.

While nearly three-quarters of all GOP supporters still reject such unions, more than 60 percent of those under 30 do not, pollster Whit Ayres, the founder and president of North Star Opinion Research, told the newspaper on Thursday.

Ayres also noted that his surveys confirm that beyond party preferences, a majority of Americans now back same-sex marriage. That is a data point with which presidential hopefuls of all strides will have to contend.

"We're headed to the point where a political candidate who is perceived as anti-gay at the presidential level will never connect with people under 30 years old," Ayres underlined.

While the GOP pollster insisted that he would never advise candidates to alter their core beliefs, he would coach them to lay out their stance in a way that has "a tolerant and accepting tone," the Christian Science Monitor added.

Americans are willing to overlook certain disagreements over personal matters, but Republicans who want a shot at the White House need to adopt "a tone and an attitude of inclusion and acceptance," Ayres insisted.

The pollster's comments prompted the Washington Post's Dana Milbank to summarize the GOP's current situation in a tongue-in-cheek manner:

"The good news for Republicans: They have a path to victory in 2016," Milbank wrote. "The bad news for Republicans: They are not on that path," he added.

That became evident when the Indiana legislature last week passed a new state law that allows anti-gay discrimination, the commentator argued. Legislators and Gov. Mike Pence have since promised to alter the religious-freedom legislation, a move Ayres said showcased a "remarkably" quick reaction by the Hoosier State's political system, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

Republican hopefuls in the 2016 race may not have gotten the pollster's message, though, the Washington Post suggested: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said he believed people ultimately "aren't going to see (the Indiana law) as discriminatory at all," while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz praised the state for "giving voice to millions of courageous conservatives."