Poll shows 68% of
Americans support hate-crimes bill

A new Gallup poll shows an overwhelming majority of Americans support the hate-crimes bill now before Congress.

The bill would expand federal hate-crimes law to cover crimes committed against people because of their sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity. According to the poll, conducted May 10-13, support for the bill cut across partisan, ideological, and religious lines.

The bill, known as the Local Law Hate Crimes Prevention Act, passed the House of Representatives on May 3. Its identical counterpart, the Matthew Shepard Act, now sits before the Senate. The White House has released a statement saying that aides are advising the president to veto the bill.

"This new national poll continues to reiterate how incredibly out of touch right-wing organizations are with the will of the American people and underscores the need for the Senate to pass the bill," said Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese in a press release. "I hope President Bush will look at this poll and realize how unbelievably out of line a threatened veto of this critical crime-fighting piece of legislation is with a majority of Americans."

According to the HRC, when broken down by self-identified demographic subgroups, the poll found the following majorities support passage of the hate-crimes bill:

60% of Republicans 69% of Independents 75% of Democrats

64% of those who attend church regularly 67% of those who attend church almost every week/monthly 73% of those who attend church seldom/never (The Advocate)