Right-wing Republicans have recently tried to appease the evangelicals in their base by passing some state laws to allow businesses to discriminate against the LGBT community. Indiana passed such a law, and there was such a huge backlash that the legislature and governor quickly amended the law to prevent that discrimination. In Arkansas, the governor refused to sign such a law until it was amended to prevent discrimination by businesses.
I think the legislators in both states were surprised by the outrage over these laws (even among the business community that normally supports Republicans) -- but they shouldn't have been. If they had been paying attention, instead of just trying to pander to their party's base, they would have known that this country has changed a lot in the last few years. Americans are no longer willing to accept discrimination against lesbians and gays.
The top chart shows that 60.3% say businesses shouldn't be allowed to discriminate, either in hiring or in who they will serve, because of religious reasons. This is from a new Reuters/Ipsos Poll -- done between April 6th and 8th of a random national sample of 892 adults, with a 3.7 point margin of error.
And that's not the only poll showing a significant majority of Americans disapprove of discrimination by businesses over religious reasons. The bottom chart shows an even slightly larger number in a new poll by NBC News. This one was done between April 6th and 8th of a random national sample of 2,052 adults, with a 3.5 point margin of error.
Americans believe in religious freedom, but they don't consider discrimination by a business to be religious freedom. They know what it is -- religious bigotry, and they don't like it.
