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| Washington Post Poll: The Catholic Church Tuesday, June 18, 2002 This Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone June 16 - 17, 2002, among a national sample of 1,004 randomly selected adults, including 355 self-identified Catholics. The margin of error for overall results is plus or minus 4 percentage points, and plus or minus 5 percentage points for Catholics. Fieldwork by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, PA. *= less than 0.5 percent 1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president? Do you approve/disapprove strongly or somewhat? ---------Approve--------- --------Disapprove------- No
NET Strongly Somewhat NET Strongly Somewhat opin.
6/17/02 74 42 32 22 13 9 4
6/9/02 77 41 36 20 11 9 3
5/19/02 76 48 28 22 13 8 3
4/21/02 78 47 31 20 10 9 2
3/28/02 79 49 30 18 10 8 3
3/10/02 82 52 30 16 7 9 2
1/27/02 83 56 27 14 7 7 3
12/19/01 86 64 22 12 6 6 2
11/27/01 89 69 21 9 5 4 1
11/6/01 89 65 24 9 4 5 2
10/9/01 92 76 16 6 3 3 1
9/27/01 90 70 20 6 3 3 4
9/13/01 86 63 23 12 6 5 2
9/9/01 55 26 29 41 22 20 3
8/12/01 61 28 33 31 17 14 8
7/30/01 59 28 30 38 22 17 3
6/3/01 55 27 28 40 22 18 6
4/22/01 63 33 30 32 16 16 5
3/25/01 58 NA NA 33 NA NA 8
2/25/01 55 NA NA 23 NA NA 22
2. Overall, would you say you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the Catholic Church? ------Favorable------ ------Unfavorable---- No
NET Very Somewhat NET Somewhat Very op.
6/17/02 All 45 NA NA 47 NA NA 9
Cath. 69 NA NA 28 NA NA 3
6/9/02 All 47 NA NA 45 NA NA 7
Cath. 70 NA NA 28 NA NA 2
3/28/02 All 55 NA NA 34 NA NA 11
Cath. 73 NA NA 24 NA NA 3
2/20/02 All 63 NA NA 27 NA NA 11
Cath. 88 NA NA 9 NA NA 4
8/30/99* All 68 32 36 19 12 9 13
*Wash Post/Kaiser/Harvard
3. (CATHOLICS ONLY) How satisfied are you with the leadership provided by (READ ITEM) - very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied? 6/17/02
Summary Table:
Don't know
----Satisfied----- ---Dissatisfied--- priest No
NET Very Smwt. NET Very Smwt. (vol.) op.
a. Your parish
priest/priests 81 56 25 11 8 3 4 4
b. Your bishop 65 32 33 26 15 11 NA 9
c. The Pope 72 32 40 25 17 8 NA 3
d. American bishops
in general 51 12 39 42 27 15 NA 7
Trend:
a. Your parish priest/priests
Don't know
----Satisfied----- ---Dissatisfied--- priest No
NET Very Smwt. NET Very Smwt. (vol.) op.
6/17/02 81 56 25 11 8 3 4 4
3/28/02 86 57 29 8 3 5 5 1
7/18/01* 87 56 31 7 2 5 NA 6
9/28/95 80 48 32 11 4 7 NA 9
8/5/93 78 44 34 14 5 9 NA 8
6/4/92 80 53 27 11 4 7 NA 9
*7/01 and previous, Time/CNN.
b. Your bishop
----Satisfied----- ---Dissatisfied--- No
NET Very Smwt. NET Very Smwt. op.
6/17/02 65 32 33 26 15 11 9
3/28/02 76 40 36 17 6 11 7
7/18/01* 81 42 39 6 1 5 13
9/28/95 73 35 38 12 4 8 15
8/5/93 75 30 45 11 3 8 14
6/4/92 74 45 29 9 4 5 17
*7/01 and previous, Time/CNN.
c. The Pope
----Satisfied----- ---Dissatisfied--- No
NET Very Smwt. NET Very Smwt. op.
6/17/02 72 32 40 25 17 8 3
3/28/02 79 41 38 18 4 13 3
7/18/01* 84 59 25 12 2 10 4
9/28/95 83 48 35 11 4 7 6
8/5/93 81 32 49 15 2 13 4
6/4/92 86 57 29 7 4 3 7
*7/01 and previous, Time/CNN.
d. No trend.
4. Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Catholic Church has handled the issue of sexual abuse of children by priests? Do you approve/disapprove strongly or somewhat? ---------Approve--------- --------Disapprove------- No
NET Strongly Somewhat NET Strongly Somewhat op.
6/17/02 All 19 5 13 77 58 19 4
Cath. 27 8 19 70 51 19 3
4/30/02* All 19 7 12 63 48 16 17
Cath. 30 11 19 59 42 18 11
4/21/02 All 18 8 10 74 57 16 9
Cath. 23 9 14 71 53 18 6
3/28/02 All 19 5 14 67 49 18 14
Cath. 28 12 16 66 45 21 6
*half sample
Compare to: Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Catholic Church is handling the issue of sexual abuse of children by priests? Do you approve/disapprove strongly or somewhat? ---------Approve--------- --------Disapprove------- No
NET Strongly Somewhat NET Strongly Somewhat op.
6/9/02 All 22 8 15 73 53 20 5
Cath. 34 16 17 63 41 22 3
4/30/02* All 25 7 17 59 41 18 16
Cath. 35 13 22 59 42 17 7
*half sample
5. As you may have heard, U.S. Catholic bishops approved a policy on Friday to deal with the issue of sexual abuse of children by priests. Under the new policy, a priest who has sexually abused a child cannot serve as a pastor or chaplain and is barred from all other public church duties. The policy does not require that this priest be automatically removed from the priesthood. Do you support or oppose this policy? Support Oppose No opin.
6/17/02 All 38 60 3
Cath. 44 53 3
6. What if a priest had committed a single act of child sexual abuse many years ago and had successfully completed a treatment program? In this case, do you think the priest should or should not be prohibited from serving as a pastor or chaplain and barred from all other public church duties? Should be Should not be No
prohibited prohibited opin.
6/17/02 All 66 29 4
Cath. 68 30 2
8. Considering everything, do you think the policy adopted by the Catholic bishops is about right, does it go too far, or doesn't it go far enough in dealing with the problem of sexual abuse of children by priests? About Too Not far No
right far enough opin.
6/17/02 All 19 3 75 3
Cath. 27 3 66 4
9. Do you think that Catholic bishops who did not report allegations of sexual abuse of young people by priests to public authorities and instead relocated these priests to other churches, should resign from their positions or don't you think so? Should Should not No
resign resign opin.
6/17/02 All 85 12 3
Cath. 82 14 4
6/10/02* All 76 13 10
Cath. 69 20 11
*Quinnipiac.
10. If these bishops refuse to resign, should church authorities remove them from their positions or not? Yes No No opin.
6/17/02 All 89 7 4
Cath. 86 10 4
11. In the past, do you think church officials have mainly tried to prevent sexual abuse of children by priests, or mainly tried to cover up the problem? Prevent Cover up Both (vol.) No opin.
6/17/02 All 9 85 3 4
Cath. 15 76 5 4
3/28/02 All 16 74 3 7
Cath. 23 66 4 7
12. And how about now, do you think church officials now are mainly trying to prevent sexual abuse of children by priests, or mainly trying to cover up the problem? Prevent Cover up Both (vol.) No opin.
6/17/02 All 51 39 6 4
Cath. 64 27 5 3
3/28/02 All 43 46 5 6
Cath. 60 31 4 4
13. Overall, when you think of the way the church has handled the issue of sexual abuse of children by priests, how would you say you feel about it - angry; dissatisfied but not angry; satisfied, but not pleased; or are you pleased with the way the church has handled it? --------Negative------- --------Positive-------- No
NET Angry Dissat. NET Satis. Pleased opin.
6/17/02 All 79 39 40 19 14 5 2
Cath. 76 40 37 22 17 5 2
3/28/02 All 80 38 42 17 13 3 3
Cath. 70 36 34 27 19 9 3
14. Do you think the church can or cannot be trusted to handle this issue properly in the future? Can be Cannot be No
trusted trusted Opin.
6/17/02 All 50 43 6
Cath. 67 29 4
4/21/02 All 40 52 8
Cath. 59 36 5
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