A majority of New York voters who identify themselves as Catholics approve of the Catholic Church’s lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s birth control insurance requirement, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.
According to the poll, 51 percent of those who identify as Catholics approve of the lawsuit challenging insurance coverage for contraceptives pushed by New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan and 45 percent disapprove. On another question only 33 percent said the church is too involved in politics.
However, the poll of 1,540 New York voters released Thursday shows that when voters who did not identify their religion were surveyed, 55 percent to 38 percent disapproved of the lawsuit and most think the church is too involved in politics.
In addition, an overwhelming number of Catholic voters – 69 percent to 27 percent - agreed with their fellow New Yorkers that insurance plans should cover contraceptives.
But 60 percent of those surveyed who identified as Catholics and 50 percent of voters overall said church or religious-affiliated institutions should not be required by the government to provide such coverage.
“Should religious institutions be required to provide that insurance? Narrowly, New Yorkers say no,” said Quinnipiac poll director Maurice Carroll. “On this one, Catholics back Church leaders.”
The survey taken May 22-28 also revealed that President Barack Obama enjoys a lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney at the moment by a margin of 56 percent to 31 percent among all voters.
But Catholic voters who participated in the poll were split evenly, 44 percent to 44 percent, between the two.
Those who identified as Protestants favored Obama 55 percent to 31 percent. Obama led among Jewish voters as well by a margin of 72 percent to 24 percent.
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