Washington D.C., Oct 15, 2008 / 15:21 pm
A recent survey sponsored by the Knights of Columbus sheds new light on the Catholic vote by examining the differences between the 65 percent of Catholics who regularly practice their faith and the 35 percent who do not. The survey finds that while a narrow majority of practicing Catholics is pro-life, a majority of non-practicing Catholics favors abortion rights.
Additionally, a supermajority of practicing Catholics opposes same-sex marriage, but non-practicing Catholics, while still largely in opposition to the proposal, favor same-sex marriage at a rate higher than the American population as a whole.
The survey, titled “Moral Issues and Catholic Values,” was conducted by the Marist College Institute of Public Opinion between September 24 and October 3, 2008. Surveying 1,733 Americans among whom 813 were Catholics, it claims a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percent for all Americans and 3.5 percent for Catholics specifically.
The poll results show 59 percent of practicing Catholics are pro-life while 65 percent of non-practicing Catholics are pro-choice. This compares to the 50 percent of Americans who describe themselves as pro-choice. About 75 percent of practicing Catholics oppose same-sex marriage. While only 30 percent of the American population favors same-sex marriage, 46 percent of non-practicing Catholics do.