Catholics remain ambivalent on stem cell research

Bush gets lowest rating yet, but only 31%
see Kerry as good president

Support for same-sex marriage erodes,
but support for civil union increases

STEM-CELL RESEARCH

In light of the very public loss of former President Ronald Reagan to Alzheimer’s, the stem-cell research debate has been reignited. In the latest CCT survey, a majority of American Catholics (73%) support adult stem cell research. But when it comes to embryonic stem cell research, more than 63% feel that derivation and use of embryonic stem cells is morally wrong.

Interestingly, while fewer than 40% of survey respondents approved of federal or corporate funding for embryonic stem cell research, 45% would accept medical treatment based on embryonic stem cells.

“American Catholics seem to judge the merits of stem cell therapy more on the basis of the source of the stem cells, than on the therapy itself,” said Theresa Beaty, associate professor of chemistry and physics at Le Moyne College. “In that regard, they're not that different than the general public whose support overall is stronger for adult stem cell research.”

PRESIDENT BUSH’S RATING/ELECTION PREFERENCES

Since American Catholic registered voters were surveyed in the CCT’s first poll in October 2001, President Bush’s approval ratings have fallen considerably. The following table illustrates this decline:

While over 41% feel that Bush deserves reelection, 51% say it’s time for change. Bush’s declining support, however, does not translate into strength for the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. While 31% think Kerry would make a “good” or “excellent” president, when asked how they would vote if the election were today, Bush continues to lead Kerry by a margin of 44% to 40% (8% were unsure, and 3% would vote for Ralph Nader) among American Catholics.

“Although more Catholics are saying they don’t want to vote for Bush, Kerry hasn’t given them a reason to vote for him,” said Susan Behuniak, professor of political science at Le Moyne. “Bush is losing support, but it isn’t helping Kerry.”

Kerry garners more support from Hispanic and African American Catholics, although it appears that thus far, Kerry has been unable to take advantage of Bush’s slip in approval rating.

Of those surveyed, registered Democratic Catholics continue to outnumber Republican Catholics, 40% to 34%, while nearly 18% were independent or minor party, and 3% were not sure.

SAME SEX UNIONS

American Catholics showed weak support for the state’s allowing legal marriage and the church’s allowing sacramental marriage for same-sex couples. While nearly 33% of those surveyed agreed that gay and lesbian couples should be able to legally marry (22% strongly agreed; 11% somewhat agreed) support was weaker for the Catholic church allowing sacramental marriage for gay and lesbian couples (slightly more than 20% agreed with such a proposal; 12% strongly agree and 8% somewhat agreed).

When these questions were posed in Fall of 2003, overall support was greater for allowing legal marriage for same-sex couples (39%) and for allowing sacramental marriage (29%). Clearly, support for each of these proposals has declined notably over a very short period of time.

Again, these traditional views on the legal and sacramental use of the term marriage were reflected in American Catholics’ support for a constitutional amendment defining marriage to be only between one man and one woman. Overall 58% agreed with the proposed amendment.

On the other hand American Catholics expressed strong support for allowing gay and lesbian couples to form civil unions – which provides all the legal rights and obligations of marriage without actually being called married – with the majority (62%) agreeing with such a proposal. This support for civil unions reflects an increase from the 56% level of overall agreement found in Fall 2003.

More liberal views are held by younger and more educated Catholics while those who attend mass more frequently and self-identify as Republican hold more traditional views. Gender has no impact on the position American Catholics hold on same-sex unions

LEGAL ISSUES FROM SEX ABUSE SCANDAL

Several questions focused on the legal issues stemming from the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church. While there was strong consensus for holding the Church to due process requirements such as the reporting of cases of abuse to legal authorities and following the rules of discovery, there was disagreement about concrete implications such as damages and the confidentiality of the confessional. For example, while 74% of respondents strongly agreed that clergy should be compelled to testify about nonconfessional sources of information, only 33% strongly agreed that clergy should testify what they know based on the confession of a victim.

U.S. BISHOPS’ APPROVAL RATING

Since October 2001, CCT has tracked American Catholics’ agreement or disagreement with how well the U.S. bishops are leading the American church. In the latest survey, the bishops’ approval rating has fallen to its lowest level since the sex abuse scandal broke in early 2002.

Although a majority of American Catholics still think that their bishops are doing a good job of leading the American church, the continuing decline could reflect the negative publicity surrounding the National Review Board’s report on diocesan compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

In addition, 61% of American Catholics believe that the church should become more democratic in its decision-making. This remains essentially unchanged from the 62% who agreed with this statement in October 2001.

The latest Contemporary Catholic Trends survey was conducted over the first two weeks of May 2004. The margin of error is +/-2.7%; the MOE can be greater among subgroups of the sample of 1,388 respondents.