SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns don't believe the barriers in restaurants designed to shield diners from liquor dispensing reduce drinking or help parents teach their children about alcohol use, a new BYU poll shows.

The Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University also found that residents — regardless of political persuasion or religious affiliation — don't care much for the 7-foot high wall often called the "Zion Curtain."

In conducting the survey, BYU researchers explained the law to respondents and then asked whether they agreed or disagreed with common justifications given for the wall.

Those polled overwhelmingly rejected the three notions that the barriers have decreased drinking (69 percent); removing the barriers would increase drinking (67 percent); and erecting the barriers has helped parents teach their children to make wise choices about alcohol (68 percent).

On the idea that removing the barriers would help parents teach their children to make wise choices about alcohol, 35 percent disagreed and 31 percent agreed.

Those who were neutral on the four questions ranged from 20 percent to 30 percent.

In 2013, the Utah House passed a bill to remove the barriers, but it died in the Senate. Though the issue was discussed when the Legislature met this year, it didn't go anywhere. Lawmakers will likely debate it again when they meet in January.

Legislators, both Republican and Democratic, who favor removing the Zion Curtain have argued that there isn't any research that shows it curbs overconsumption or underage drinking.

But Rep. Jack Draxler, R-North Logan, countered that there are no studies that show it doesn't achieve those results, either. He said he believes Utahns' attitudes about the barrier stems from constantly hearing that it's dumb or weird.

"The public has heard that so much that they've bought into it," he said.

Interestingly, the elections and democracy center used the term "Zion Curtain," which some consider derisive, with only half of the respondents to see how it would influence the poll results.

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But it had no effect on the outcome, suggesting voter attitudes on the issue are well-formed, according to Adam Brown, an assistant political science professor and research fellow at the BYU center.

Republicans, Democrats, Mormons and adherents of other religions agreed the wall doesn't decrease drinking, removing it would not increase drinking and its presence does not help parents teach children about alcohol use, according to the poll. But it showed Republicans and Mormons are less likely than others to believe that removing the barriers would help them teach their children about alcohol.

The center emailed surveys to 6,915 voters recruited at polling places across Utah on Election Day going back to 2004. Of that number, 657 completed the survey from Nov. 14-23. The margin of error for a random sample with a sample of that size is about plus or minus 3.6 percent.

Overall, 63 percent of Utahns favor removing the barriers, the polls shows. When BYU researchers broke that down by political party and religious affiliation, they found 81 percent of Democrats, 51 percent of Republicans, 51 percent of Mormons and 87 percent members of other religions in agreement.

The overall findings mirror a Dan Jones & Associates poll of registered voters conducted for UtahPolicy.com last month that showed 62 percent want the walls removed.

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