Le Moyne College/Zogby International
“Contemporary Catholic Trends” Poll

Spring 2002 Le Moyne College/Zogby International Contemporary Catholic Trends Poll Report

In March 2002, Le Moyne College, in conjuction with Zogby International, announced the results of the second in an ongoing poll of American Catholics. This second collection of answers finds that a majority believe Church leadership have done a poor job handling the issue of priests alleged to have committed acts of child sexual abuse, and that the judicial system should handle these allegations.

Despite these findings - and a marked drop in the approval rating for American bishops - there has been no increase from the Fall 2001 survey in the number of Catholics who say they are likely to leave the Church.

The Spring 2002 survey was conducted of 1,507 American Catholics nationwide between March 12 and March 16. Margin of sampling error is +/- 2.8%. Error margins are higher for subgroups.

Responding to questions about the recent scandal involving priests and sexual abuse, 75% of Catholics answered either "poor" (52%) or "fair" (23%) when asked how they rate Church leadership's efforts to deal with the issue; 22% give Church leaders a positive rating for its handling of the issue (6% excellent, 16% good). An overwhelming majority (85%) believe the legal system should handle these allegations, with only 10% saying it should be dealt with as an internal Church matter.

The poll also included sections on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, the war on terrorism, and faith practices since Sept. 11. Other report highlights:

* An equal percentage of Catholics (60%) believe that both a strong Israel and a viable Palestinian state should be a fundamental goal of U.S. foreign policy.

* There is general strong support for the use of the U.S. military, including ground forces, in the war on terrorism even under two adverse conditions: entering a country without the permission of its government (64% agree) and even if it means large number of American casualties (65% agree)

* Nearly one-fourth say religion is more important since 9/11. * One in five Catholics say a priest in their local diocese has been accused of committing child sexual abuse.

* When accusations of child sexual abuse against a priest are revealed, 84% say they are likely to believe the charges, compared to 14% who are not likely to believe the accusations.

Further information on the Le Moyne/Zogby "Contemporary Catholic Trends" Poll is also available by contacting:

Zogby International website
Dr. William R. Barnett (315-445-4344) of the Department of Religious Studies
and Dr. Robert F. Kelly (315-445-4481) of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, co-coordinators of the project for Le Moyne College