New Poll Finds Shrinking Support for HB2, Even Republicans Say It’s Not Working

Nearly half (45%) of North Carolina voters are opposed to Gov. Pat McCrory‘s anti-LGBT law HB2, broad legislation that bans transgender people from using public restrooms that conform with their gender identity, and strips local government control over minimum wage and employment discrimination. Only 36 percent of voters support the controversial law, Public Policy Polling reports, calling it “deeply unpopular.”

63 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of independents oppose the law, while 56 percent of Republicans support it. But there’s a wide set of undecidedsÂ in those numbers. Overall, 19 percent are “unsure,” and given the negative nationwide publicity and momentum, it’s likely the majority of those who are currently undecided will swing to oppose the law.

More than half of voters (54%) say HB2 is having a negative impact on the economy, and 53% say it’s hurting North Carolina.Â

As for claims HB2 would make people safer, voters disagree. Just 37 percent say it does, 44 percent say it does not.

“A lot of the rhetoric around the bill,” PPP states, has been “about protecting women but they both oppose the bill (33/46) and think it’s failing to make the state safer (34/48) by even wider margins than the population as a whole.”

PPP notes that since Gov. Pat McCrory signed HB2, and has been actively defending it, he is behind in the polls against his Democratic opponent, Roy Cooper “for the first time in 3 months in our polling.”

Cooper has the advantage with 43% to 42% for McCrory, with Libertarian Lon Cecil at 4%. McCrory led our North Carolina polls in both February and March but has seen his deficit among Democrats grow from 65/16 to 73/14 amid the furor over HB2. One of the reasons McCrory was elected by such a wide margin in 2012 was substantial crossover support from Democrats, and he’s lost most of that in the subsequent years.

Overall, HB2 is helping Democratic lawmakers and gubernatorial candidate Roy Cooper, which might mean a Democratic sweep come November.

On Monday, well over 1200 came out to rally against HB2:

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EARLIER:

Watch This New Ad Attacking North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory for His Anti-LGBT Law HB2

Watch: Ted Cruz Tells Transgender Women to Only Use the ‘Bathroom at Home’

Pat McCrory Gets 185,000 Petitions Calling for HB2 Repeal â€“ Calls It a ‘National Smear Campaign’

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Image by Equality North Carolina via Twitter