A new poll released on April 9 found that most Americans believe businesses should not be given the freedom to refuse services based on their religious beliefs. The poll, which was carried out from April 6 to 8, found that 52 percent Americans do not object to same-sex marriage as opposed to 32 percent who do.

According to the poll, there is a split over the issue between Americans and certain politicians who represent them. Mike Pence, Indiana’s Republican governor, sparked a fire in his state last month by passing a law that would allow businesses to deny services to some people based on their religious views. LGBT advocates obviously labeled the law as discriminatory, which compelled the state’s legislature to revise the law. Only a few days later, Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas’ Republican governor, forced his state’s legislature to change a similar law so as to avoid controversy and save his reputation.

The poll found substantial opposition to allowing businesses the freedom to refuse services or employment to certain individuals based on religious beliefs. While 54 percent said it was unacceptable for businesses to refuse services, 28 percent said they should be given the option to do so. Fifty-five percent of respondents said businesses should not have the freedom to refuse services or employment to certain people based on religious beliefs while 27 percent said they should be able to do so.

The poll, conducted jointly by Reuters and Ipsos found there was some divide among Americans on whether same-sex marriage should be made legal. The largest group, comprising of 34 percent of  respondents, said same-sex marriage should be legalized by the United States Supreme Court, 22 percent said it should be legalized in individual states with the help of a voter referendum, 11 percent said such laws should be passed by state legislators and the smallest group, comprised of 8 percent of respondents said the Congress should decide what to do. The poll also found that 24 percent of  respondents did not know what to do about same-sex marriage and 55 percent of Americans wanted to see all states in America recognize such unions, including those that do not do so currently.

The poll included a total number of 892 respondents, aged 18 years and older. They were surveyed online and the poll was measured using a credibility interval ranging plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Photo Credits: Huffington Post