Pollster Daniel Cox said Friday that African-Americans are divided on refusing wedding-based services to people on religious grounds.
“We tend to think of Democrats being more secular, and Republicans being more religious, but African-Americans are incredibly religious,” Cox, research director at the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons on “What America’s Thinking.”
“What we saw in our poll is that there is increasing division in the African-America community on this issue of religious service refusals,” he continued, referring to PRRI’s new poll on religious-based service refusals.
The survey found that 45 percent of black Americans polled said wedding-based businesses should be allowed to refuse services to same-sex couples based on religious grounds.
The number of black Americans who favor the practice has jumped since last year when 36 percent polled said the same thing.
The Supreme Court in June sided with a Colorado baker who refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding in a 7-2 decision.
The high court said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission violated the Constitution’s free exercise clause when it ruled the baker, Jack Phillips, broke the state’s public accommodations law, in refusing to bake the custom wedding cake.
— Julia Manchester
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