Poll shows decline in support for Boy Scouts

dallas news ^ | 17 April 2014 | SCOTT K. PARKS

[T Ruth]

The Boy Scouts’ image, once defined by idyllic Norman Rockwell paintings, has suffered during the contentious debate over whether [homosexual] youths and adults should be allowed to participate in Scouting, according to a public opinion poll.

Rasmussen Reports, an independent polling firm, asked the following question in a telephone survey: “Do you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable impression of the Boy Scouts of America?”

According to the poll, 59 percent of American adults have a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of the Boy Scouts. That’s a 6-point drop since last May, and a 14-point drop since February 2012.

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Twenty-one percent of respondents said they had a very favorable opinion of the organization — down from 40 percent two years ago.

Fran Coombs, managing editor of Rasmussen Reports, said the polling data shed no direct light on why an increasing number of Americans seem to be developing negative feelings about the Boy Scouts of America.

But he added, “As a lay person, the only thing I see about Scouts that has risen to the surface is the [homosexual] issue.”

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[DoughtyOne]

The Boy Scouts has resisted having homosexuals in it’s ranks. In truth I don’t think it goes after individual homosexual boy scouts as long as they don’t celebrate openly.

This I believe is the right thing to do. And it is definitely an attempt to protect children.

[T Ruth]

One of us is not understanding the other.

From the article: "BSA leaders voted last May to amend their long-standing membership policy and allow openly [homosexual] youths to participate in Scouting."