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NBC News Online Survey: Public Opinion on the Religious Freedom Laws
Embargoed for release after 9:00 AM Thursday, April 9, 2015
Americans Say Businesses Must Provide Services to Gays and Lesbians;
Nearly Half Say They Would Boycott Businesses That Refuse Service
In the wake of the controversy over religious freedom laws in Indiana and Arkansas, most
Americans say that a business owner should treat gays and lesbians as they would other
customers, even if homosexuality violates that business owner’s religious beliefs. The latest
NBC News Online Survey conducted by SurveyMonkey also showed why so many large retailers
and corporations spoke out against these laws: 48 percent of Americans said they would likely
boycott a business that refuses to provide services to gays or lesbians.
The poll finds that 63 percent of Americans say business owners should be required to provide
products or services to individuals who are gay or lesbian, while 37 percent say the business
owner should be allowed to refuse if homosexuality is against their religious beliefs. But
Americans divide on the issue if the business provides some kind of wedding services.
Half of the respondents were given slightly different question wording, and the results show
that opinions of some Americans vary regarding the type of business. When asked if a weddingrelated business, such as a caterer or photographer, should be required to provide products or
services to same-sex couples, 52 percent said they should provide services, while 48 percent
said they should be allowed to refuse.
All
Generic businesses…
Allowed to refuse
Required to provide
Wedding service
businesses…
Allowed to refuse
Required to provide
3044
40
60
4559
37
63
60+
White
Black
Hisp
Rep
Dem
Ind
37
63
1829
24
76
43
57
39
61
30
70
30
70
65
35
18
82
37
63
White
Evang
62
31
48
52
37
63
44
56
57
43
53
47
51
49
36
64
37
63
82
18
25
75
48
52
80
38
Republicans come down in favor of business owners’ religious freedom, with nearly two-thirds
saying the owners can refuse to serve gays. This is in stark contrast to the 82 percent of
Democrats and 63 percent of independents who support equal service for all.
1
Across all ages and races, Americans say a business must serve gays and lesbians no matter the
owner’s religious beliefs. But older Americans and whites have somewhat more conservative
views on the issue when it came to wedding businesses.
Among those under 45, a majority say wedding businesses should be required to provide
services, but those over 45 say these operations should be allowed to refuse based on the
owners religious beliefs. Whites are nearly evenly divided on wedding businesses, but not
blacks and Hispanics – nearly two-thirds of these groups want businesses to provide services to
gays and lesbians.
And among white Americans who identified as being born-again Christians or evangelicals,
support for religious freedom for business owners was very strong, with 62 percent supporting
the right of generic business owners to refuse service and 80 percent saying wedding
businesses should be allowed to not provide services.
Forty-eight percent of Americans said they would likely boycott a company that refuses service
to gays and lesbians because of the owner’s religious views, while 14 percent said that would
make them more likely to support the business. A large number, 37 percent, said it wouldn’t
make a difference to them. Support for a boycott ran strongest among Democrats and those
under 45 years old.
If a business refuses
service…would you…
Support the business
Boycott the business
Not make a difference
All
14
48
37
1829
8
60
32
3044
10
53
38
4559
18
42
40
60+
20
40
39
Rep
30
18
52
Dem
8
71
21
Ind
10
47
43
Women
12
53
35
Men
16
43
40
2
The issues of religious freedom and same-sex marriage are likely to have an impact on the 2016
election. Slightly more Americans say they would vote for a candidate who supports legal gay
marriage than one who focuses on conservative social and religious values.
Perhaps most important to the slate of 2016 contenders are a few key groups that can make a
difference in an election: young voters, women, and independents. A majority of those under
30 say they are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports gay marriage, and a similar
number say they are less likely to vote for one who focuses on conservative social and religious
values. Twice as many in the 30-44 age group say they would more likely cast a vote for a gay
marriage supporter over a conservative values candidate. Nearly half of women said they are
less likely to vote for a socially conservative candidate. And among independents, support is 15
points higher for a candidate open to gay marriage than for a socially conservative one.
If a candidate supports
gay marriage…
More likely to vote for
Less likely to vote for
Not make a difference
All
36
24
39
1829
53
12
33
3044
43
19
37
4559
27
31
41
60+
26
31
42
Rep
11
52
37
Dem
55
11
33
Ind
36
19
44
Women
42
18
38
Men
31
30
39
If a candidate focuses on
conservative…values…
More likely to vote for
Less likely to vote for
Not make a difference
27
42
30
14
54
30
22
49
29
35
34
31
34
33
31
60
10
30
12
60
27
21
46
33
23
46
29
31
38
31
3
TOPLINES
Questions 1-8 and 18-34 held for future release; questions 14-17 previously released.
HALF SAMPLE Q9 AND Q10
9. Which comes closer to your opinion? [RESPONSES ROTATED]
1. A business owner should be allowed to refuse to provide products or services to
individuals who are gay or lesbian, if homosexuality violates the business owner’s
religious beliefs.
2. A business owner should be required to provide products or services to individuals
who are gay or lesbian, if homosexuality violates the business owner’s religious beliefs.
4.6-8.15
Allowed to refuse Required to provide DK/NA
37
63
*
10. Which of the following comes closer to your opinion? [RESPONSES ROTATED]
1. A business that provides some kind of wedding services, such as catering or
photography, should be allowed to refuse to provide services to individuals who are gay
or lesbian, if homosexuality violates the owner’s religious beliefs.
2. A business that provides some kind of wedding services, such as catering or
photography, should be required to provide products or services to individuals who are
gay or lesbian, if homosexuality violates the business owner’s religious beliefs.
4.6-8.15
Allowed to refuse Required to provide DK/NA
48
52
*
11. If a business refuses to provide products or services to people who are gay or
lesbian based on the religious beliefs of the owners, would you be more likely to:
[ROTATE RESPONSES 1 & 2]
4.6-8.15
Support the business
or use its products
14
Boycott the business
or its products
48
Wouldn’t make a
difference to me
37
DK/N
A
1
[ROTATE Q12 & Q13]
12. Thinking about the 2016 election, if a candidate for president supports legal gay
marriage, would this make you more likely to vote for him or her, less likely, or wouldn’t
it make much difference to your vote?
Wouldn’t make
More likely
Less likely
much difference
DK/NA
4.6-8.15
36
24
39
1
13. Thinking about the 2016 election, if a candidate for president focuses on conservative
social and religious values, would that make you more likely to vote for him or her, less
likely, or wouldn’t it make much difference to your vote?
4
4.6-8.15
More likely
27
Less likely
42
Wouldn’t make
much difference
30
DK/NA
1
METHODOLOGY
The NBC News-SurveyMonkey Poll was conducted online April 6-8, 2015 among a national
sample of 2,052 adults aged 18 and over. Respondents for this non-probability survey were
selected from among those who have volunteered to participate in the SurveyMonkey
Audience panel. This SurveyMonkey Audience project was run using a balanced sample. The
process of sample balancing starts by setting targets for desired numbers of completed
responses among certain groups (in this case: by gender, age, and race groupings). After that, a
specified number of potential respondents are allocated to the project based on expected
completion rates. Panelists are either linked directly to the survey from an email invitation, or
routed to the survey after agreeing to take an additional survey after completing a prior one.
Once the survey is put into the field, the system calculates actual completion rates by group,
and uses that information to re-adjust the flow of new panelists to the survey.
SurveyMonkey panelists are emailed no more than once every three days, and on average
panelists receive one email every two weeks. SurveyMonkey also imposes a daily limit on the
number of surveys a panelist can take.
Data for this survey have been weighted for age, race, sex, education and region using the
Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, along with data from the Kaiser Health Tracking
Poll on evangelicalism to reflect the demographic composition of the U.S.. Because the sample
is based on those who initially self-selected for participation rather than a probability sample,
no estimates of sampling error can be calculated. All surveys and polls may be subject to
multiple sources of error, including, but not limited to sampling error, coverage error, and
measurement error.
To assess the variability in the estimates and account for design effects, we create a bootstrap
confidence interval, meaning we use the weighted data to generate 1000 independent samples
and calculate the standard deviation of the weighted average using those samples, producing
an error estimate.
When analyzing the survey results and their accuracy, this error estimate should be taken into
consideration in much the same way that analysis of probability polls takes into account the
margin of sampling error. For example, if 47 percent of voters say they support Candidate A and
43 percent of voters support Candidate B, and the error estimate is plus or minus 3.5
percentage points, Candidate A could be supported by as low as 44 percent of voters and
5
Candidate B could have as high as 47 percent of support. Therefore, Candidate A does not have
a "lead."
The following table provides the unweighted sample sizes and the error estimate that has been
calculated in place of the margin of sampling error for a variable that is expected to have close
to an even split in most groupings (gender):
Group
Unweighted N
Total sample
2052
Plus or minus
3.0 percentage points
Republican
Democrat
Independent
424
798
796
6.3 percentage points
4.7 percentage points
4.6 percentage points
18-29
30-44
45-59
60+
315
376
754
607
7.5 percentage points
6.2 percentage points
4.5 percentage points
5.3 percentage points
White
Black
Hispanic
Other
1383
204
317
148
3.8 percentage points
9.0 percentage points
7.2 percentage points
12.3 percentage points
6