Despite the harsh criticism of the Obama administration by Catholic leaders over a federal rule that would require employers, including religiously affiliated organizations, to provide birth control coverage as part of their health benefits, the views of Catholics about President Obama were little changed, according to a Gallup poll conducted Feb. 6-12.
Gallup found that an average of 46 percent of Catholics approved of the job Obama was doing during this period compared with 49 percent in the previous week — a change that was statistically insignificant.
Obama announced a modification of the rule on Feb. 10 after weeks of criticism that the mandate would force church-affiliated organizations such as schools, hospitals and charities to act against their beliefs. The change would still provide coverage to women for contraception, but they would obtain it directly from their insurance companies.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic of Bishops, which took a lead in the fight against the rule, said their opposition to it still stood and that they would continue to push to rescind the mandate altogether.
A separate survey conducted Feb. 8-12 by the Pew Research Center found that those Americans who were aware of the controversy were divided on whether — had the rule gone forward as originally written — religiously affiliated organizations should be given an exemption from the mandate if they objected to it on religious grounds. Forty-eight percent supported an exemption while 44 percent said these institutions should be required to provide contraceptive coverage like other employers. Eight percent were undecided. The margin of error was 3 points.
When it came to Catholics, about a quarter said that the issue had been brought up by clergy at their churches.
Catholics favored providing religious institutions an exemption by a 55 percent to 39 percent margin, with 6 percent undecided.
However, although the church forbids the use of contraception, 41 percent of Catholics in the survey said that using contraceptives was morally acceptable and another 36 percent did not consider it a moral issue. Fifteen percent said contraceptive use was morally wrong.
A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted Feb. 8-13, phrasing its question differently than the Pew survey, found that 61 percent of Americans supported the requirement that religious employers be required to cover contraception while 31 percent did not, with the rest undecided. The percentage of support was the same among Catholics.