Washington D.C., Oct 8, 2008 / 21:48 pm
A new poll of Americans ages 18-34 has surveyed the faith, politics, and issue positions of young adults before the 2008 election. The poll claims about 60 percent of younger self-identified Catholics say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 44 percent reportedly support same-sex marriage, a number which rises to 64 percent when religious liberty protections are emphasized.
The claims come from the Faith in Public Life’s “The Faith and American Politics Survey,” which was conducted by Public Religion Research between August 28 and September 19. Polling 2,000 American adults and an over sample of 1,250 younger adults, its methods included both land line and cell phone interviews.
Overall, 44 percent of Catholics said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while 54 percent said it should not. About 61 percent of young Catholics reported it was not a very important voting issue, compared to 56 percent of Catholics 35 years and older.
As a whole, 30 percent of Catholics agreed that “gay couples should be allowed to marry,” rising to 47 percent when the question is framed by the insistence that “no church or congregation would be required to perform marriages for gay couples.”