A national poll released today by Quinnipiac University in Connecticut found that American voters favored the Boy Scouts ending its national no-gays policy 55 to 33 percent.
The poll’s results came out the same day that the BSA’s National Executive Board postponed a vote that would place the decision to include gays with local troops. The discussion will continue at the national meeting in May.
The university surveyed 1,772 voters between Jan. 30 and Feb. 4. The margin of error is 2.3 percentage points.
The support was higher among women, who support the inclusion of gay Scouts by 61 percent, compared to 49 percent of men who were polled.
Support was highest among white Catholics, who favored ending the ban by 63 percent. Evangelical Protestants followed with 56 percent backing the policy’s end. Overall Protestants favor opening up Scouting by 44 percent.
Only 33 percent of voters polled disagreed with changing the policy.
“Now that the Armed Forces ban on openly gay service members has been lifted, and polls show increasing acceptance of same-sex marriage, most American voters think it’s time to open up the Boy Scouts, too,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
