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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Sixty-seven percent of Utahns favor anti-discrimination protections for gays and lesbians, according to a statewide poll.
The Salt Lake Tribune poll found support for such protections climbed 11 percentage points across the state from a year ago, when pollsters asked the same question.
The poll also showed that 66 percent of those surveyed support expanding Salt Lake City's anti-discrimination ordinancesstatewide.
The ordinances forbid housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. They became the first of their kind in Utah when approved last year.
Only 23 percent of Utahns oppose such anti-bias protections, compared with 40 percent a year ago, according to the poll. Among Mormon respondents, opposition fell from 48 percent to 28 percent.
Matthew Burbank, chairman of the University of Utah's political science department, attributed the increase in support for the protections to the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' endorsement of Salt Lake City's ordinances.
"This isn't a gradual change of attitudes. This is a fairly dramatic jump," Burbank said. "Clearly, the fact that the LDS church was officially endorsing this position had an impact on people."
Quin Monson, associate director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, agreed.
"This shift certainly ought to get the attention of the state Legislature and the governor," he said.
On Friday, Utah lawmakers said they won't consider a law that would ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in the workplace and in housing, and will instead spend the next year studying the issue.
But the poll also found that 65 percent oppose amending the Utah Constitution to permit civil unions for same-sex couples. Twenty-eight percent support such a move, compared with 25 percent last January.
And the poll showed 50 percent oppose changing state law to allow unmarried couples, including same-sex partners, to adopt children. Thirty-three percent favor the change, compared with 35 percent a year ago.
"That's an area where we need to continue to do work, to educate people about how happy and healthy our families are and how happy and healthy our kids are," said Brandie Balken, executive director of Equality Utah.
The poll of 625 registered Utah voters was conducted Jan. 18-20 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington, D.C. It has an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
