Washington ( CNN ) Nearly 6 in 10 Americans say that businesses that provide wedding-related services should be required to provide those services to same-sex couples in the same way they would all other customers , even if they have religious objections . A new CNN/ORC poll finds 57 % feel businesses such as caterers or florists should be required to serve gay or lesbian couples just as they would heterosexual couples , while 41 % say they should be allowed to refuse service for religious reasons . That 's a shift from a Pew Research Center poll conducted last fall , which found just 49 % thought businesses ought to be required to serve same-sex couples while 47 % that they should be allowed to refuse service on religious grounds . Since the Pew poll last fall , Indiana 's Religious Freedom Restoration Act , signed into law in late March by Republican governor Mike Pence , sparked a nationwide controversy over whether the law allowed wedding-related businesses to refuse service to gay and lesbian couples . Apple , Walmart and the NCAA all spoke out against the law , while some states and cities with Democratic leaders barred spending public money in Indiana . Pence and other Indiana legislators insisted discrimination was not the law 's intent and a bill to change the original law was signed in early April . In the CNN/ORC Poll , most Democrats ( 70 % ) and independents ( 60 % ) say wedding-related businesses should be required to provide services to same-sex couples as they would different-sex couples , while Republicans break broadly the other way , 67 % say religious reasons are a valid justification for refusing service . Full poll results . Looking at Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party , 60 % in that group say wedding-related businesses should be allowed to refuse services to same-sex couples , but there are sharp divides within that group by age and ideology . Moderate and liberal Republicans and Republican-leaners broadly say wedding-related businesses should be required to serve all couples the same way ( 58 % ) while three-quarters of conservative Republicans favor allowing a caterer or florist to refuse service for religious reasons ( 74 % ) . Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents under age 50 , 56 % say wedding-related businesses should be required to serve same-sex and different-sex couples the same way while among those age 50 or older , 72 % think they should not be required to do so . The big gay wedding cake quiz . Age differences hold across party lines , but the generation gap among Republicans and Republican-leaners is larger than that among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents . Overall , white evangelicals are broadly in favor of allowing businesses to refuse service for religious reasons - 62 % say they should be able to . But among whites who are not evangelicals , 61 % say such businesses should be required to provide services to all couples the same way . The shift from the Pew Center results comes across demographic lines . Men , women , whites , younger adults and senior citizens all are more apt than in the Pew poll to say wedding-related business should be required to serve same-sex couples as they do others . The CNN/ORC International poll was conducted by telephone , April 16-19 , among a random national sample of 1,018 adult Americans . Results for the full poll have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points . Michigan auto repair shop says yes to gun owners , no to homosexuals .
Most Americans say businesses should not discriminate against same-sex weddings . The poll was conducted from June 30 to July 2 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults reached on cellular and landline phones. Indiana passed and later changed its religious freedom law after public outcry .