A solid majority of U.S. voters believe it is time for Boy Scouts of America to end its longstanding ban on openly gay members, according to the latest national poll from Quinnipiac University that was released on Wednesday.
The poll, released on the same day that BSA’s leadership delayed its decision on whether or not to end the ban, showed 55 percent of registered voters nationwide favor an end to the group’s policy on openly gay members. Only 33 percent of voters said the ban should remain in place.
Moreover, the poll showed broad support for an end to the ban across a number of partisan, gender, ethnic and religious groups. Seventy-one percent of Democrats and 57 percent of independents favor an end to the ban, while a slight majority of Republicans said the ban should remain in place. A huge majority of women — 61 percent — said the ban should be brought to end, while a plurality of men said the same.
At least 55 percent of whites, blacks and Hispanics support an end to the ban, as do 63 percent of Catholics. Protestants, however, are split: 44 percent said the ban should end, while 41 percent said it should continue.
