OK. Right now, guess how many points GOP Gov. Mike Pence’s approval rating has dropped since his “religious freedom” law disaster? Five? Ten? Twenty?…
On paper, no one can disagree that Mike Pence is a Hoosier if ever there were one. Born and raised in Columbus, Indiana, Pence earned his undergraduate degree from an Indiana private, Presbyterian liberal arts college and his law degree from Indiana University. He worked for an Indiana think tank, had a gig as an Indiana radio talk show host, served the people of Indiana as a U.S. Congressman, and then, as their governor.
Indiana is a conservative state. Gallup ranks it number 21, with number one, Mississippi, being the most conservative. Mitt Romney won the state over Barack Obama by ten points.Â
In January, Hoosiers gave their beloved governor a 66 percent approval rating. That’s pretty huge. In February, that dropped a bit, to 62 percent.Â
In a new poll commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign and conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, Hoosiers now give their Republican governor an approval rating of just 39 percent.
That’s a 23 point plunge from February, and a 27 point drop from January.
“As you may have heard, Governor Mike Pence recently signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which (Some people say) allows business owners to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and (Other people say) protect business owners from acting against their own religious beliefs,” Indiana voters were told in the poll. “Generally speaking, do you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of Governor Mike Pence for signing this bill into law?,” they were then asked.
A solid majority, 53 percent, said the issue gave them a less favorable opinion, while only 38 percent said it gave them a more favorable one.
There was also a 30-point drop in voters saying they felt the state under Pence was on the right track.
Another important marker is how they felt about the “religious freedom” law.
“Do you think businesses should or should not be allowed to refuse service to someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity?,” voters were asked. A whopping 70 percent said they thought businesses should not be allowed to discriminate. Even among Republicans, 58 percent, a clear majority, said no to discrimination.
“Elected officials, and governors specifically, who experiment with these anti-LGBT bills that allow businesses to discriminate against LGBT people do so at their own peril,” JoDee Winterhof, HRC Vice President of Policy and Political Affairs, said in a statement summing up the polling.
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Image by House GOP via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: HRC
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