A majority of North Carolina voters disagree with the prospect of North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signing a religious freedom bill into law, according to a new Elon University poll released Tuesday.
McCrory has repeatedly expressed opposition to signing such legislation. Two religious freedom proposals filed last month have not made it through legislative committees.
The poll found that 63 percent of registered voters said they disagree with the state adopting a religious freedom law. The majority of that opposition comes from young registered voters, women, and Democrats. Meanwhile, 51 percent of Republicans said they supported the idea of businesses being allowed to refuse to serve customers because of religious objections.
The poll’s findings come after national attention fell on similar bills in Indiana and Arkansas. After signing a controversial religious freedom bill into law, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) was forced to clarify the law in response to criticism from local and national figures. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) decided to send a religious freedom law back to the state legislature for reworking.
McCrory has repeatedly questioned the need for a religious freedom bill.
“What is the problem they’re trying to solve?” McCrory asked last month on Charlotte’s WFAE. “I haven’t seen it up to this point in time.”
Last week, North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore said that the House religious freedom bill would not move this session, essentially killing the legislation. In the Senate, Senate Leader Phil Berger hasn’t been as straightforward, saying that Republicans “remain committed to ensuring freedom of religious —and to preventing discrimination against North Carolinians based on their sincerely-held religious beliefs.”
The fate of the bill in the Senate is unclear. It could still pass if it comes up before the April 30 “crossover deadline” where certain bills must pass to be eligible for legislative session. If it doesn’t come up before the deadline, passage is far more unlikely.
In Louisiana, despite criticism from lawmakers, Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has expressed strong support for a similar (but not duplicate) religious freedom proposal made by a Republican state lawmaker.
The poll was conducted among 756 North Carolina residents between April 20 and April 24. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.56 percentage points. Six-hundred seventy-seven of those respondents were registered voters. The margin of error for them was 3.77 percentage points.
