I don’t think we’ve seen the last of polls like this — or interpretations of them. Details:
The Catholic bishops, backed by conservative evangelicals, say the Obama administration shouldn’t include contraceptioncoverage as part of free preventive care options in employers’ health insurance plans.
Hence the showdown: As our editorial Monday says, religious liberties fight or, as Health and Human Services SecretaryKathleen Sebelius says, a free choice issue.
And here’s where the Catholic women come in. According to the Public Religion Research Institute poll released today,
A majority (55%) of Americans agree that “employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception and birth control at no cost.” Four-in-ten (40%) disagree with this requirement.
Key breakdowns
- 58% of all Catholics agree employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception. That slides down to 52% for Catholic voters, 50% for white Catholics.
- 61% of religiously unaffiliated Americans say employer plans should cover contraception.
- 50%of white mainline Protestants want the coverage. However, for evangelical Protestants, that drops to 38%.
And perhaps of greater note among election-watchers:
Women are significantly more likely than men to agree that employers should be required to provide health care plans that cover contraception (62% vs. 47% respectively).
A second poll, also released today from Public Policy Polling, has similar findings. This poll, conducted at the request of Planned Parenthood, finds
…a majority of voters, including a majority of Catholics, don’t believe Catholic hospitals and universities should be exempted from providing the benefit.
…Independent voters support this benefit by a 55/36 margin; in fact, a majority of voters in every racial, age and religious category that we track express support. In particular, a 53 percent majority of Catholic voters, who were oversampled as part of this poll, favor the benefit, including fully 62 percent of Catholics who identify themselves as independents.