(AP Photo)
(CNSNews.com) – Quinnipiac University conducted a national poll and reported that “American Catholics support same-sex marriage” by a margin of 54 to 38 percent, but for those Catholics who go to church every Sunday, a requirement of their faith, the poll results showed that Mass-attending Catholics oppose same-sex “marriage” by a margin of 55 to 38 percent.
In a Mar. 8 press release on their poll, Quinnipiac said, “American voter support for same-sex marriage is inching up and now stands at 47-43 percent, including 54-38 percent among Catholic voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.”
The poll of 497 adult Catholics asked respondents, “In general, do you support or oppose same-sex marriage?” The results were broken down by gender, race, political party and respondents who identified as Catholic, Protestant or Born Again Christian.
CNSNews.com asked Quinnipiac if results were available to the question of same-sex marriage based on Mass attendance.
The polling institute responded by e-mail with results that showed 55 percent of Catholics who attend Mass weekly oppose same-sex "marriage" -- 38 percent voiced support for gay “marriage” and 9 percent either did not know or did not give an applicable response.
In other words, at least 55 percent of Catholics who attend Mass weekly as required by their faith oppose same-sex "marriage."
On all other questions, the poll proceeded to break down results asked of American Catholics based on rate of Mass attendance. For example, American Catholics were asked whether or not they believe the Church is headed in the right direction, in addition to their views on Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, criticized the poll’s findings and methodology saying, “The Quinnipiac Polling Institute has some explaining to do.”
“The media are ecstatic: Catholics are pro-gay marriage,” Donohue said in a Mar. 8 statement.
He also pointed out how Quinnipiac reported results based on Mass attendance for every question except the one on homosexual “marriage.”
“Quinnipiac asked Catholic voters 14 questions on issues of interest to them, and on all but one the survey disaggregated the answers on the basis of church attendance. The one exception was on same-sex marriage,” Donohue said.
The poll sampled over 2,000 individuals, 497 of whom identified as Catholic. Of those 497, 31 percent said they attend mass weekly, which equals approximately 154 individuals; 28 percent said they attend mass “a few times a year.”