WASHINGTON, D.C., March 9, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – A new poll analyzing Donald Trump's campaign success with potential Republican voters suggests that just over half of observant Catholics have a favorable view of groups that work to uphold life.
Observant Catholics, or Catholics who attend Mass more than once a week, make up 14 percent of likely Republican voters, according to Democracy Corps, and only 52 percent of this group has favorable feelings toward pro-life groups.
The Democracy Corps is a project of Clinton strategists James Carville and Stanley Greenberg, which conducted the poll February 11-16 with 800 likely Republican voters, looking at, along with Trump's campaign results thus far, divisions within the GOP.
The results predict an impending civil war in the party the pollsters say can be taken advantage of by liberals. They also indicate the only thing currently uniting Republicans is fundamental opposition to several things: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and his health care takeover, Democrats, and illegal immigration.
The Democrat strategists' poll presentation of Catholics as largely holding an unfavorable view of pro-life groups would seem to conflict with the fundamental Catholic teaching of life as a sacred gift from God that needs defending. However, one expert affirmed that faithful Catholics are pro-life and that the poll results showing Catholics as unenthusiastic toward pro-life groups is probably awry.
“There is a substantial body of polling data which finds that Catholics who attend Mass regularly are more pro-life than 'self-described' Catholics and the rest of the population as a whole,” said political scientist Dr. Michael New.
He pointed to a 2009 Gallup poll, which found that among Catholics who go to Mass regularly, only 24 percent view abortion as morally acceptable, while 52 percent of Catholics with irregular Church attendance view abortion as morally acceptable.
New went on to say that the Carville-Greenberg poll actually does underscore that faithful Catholics support life.
“Seventy one-percent of Catholics reported a 'cool' feeling to Planned Parenthood as opposed to 44 percent of moderate Republicans,” New stated. “Other polls show that opinion toward Planned Parenthood is fairly evenly split – so the fact that 71 percent of Catholics view Planned Parenthood unfavorably shows that church-going Catholics are more pro-life than the rest of the country as a whole.”
New was also wary of the poll question querying Catholics' attitudes toward pro-life groups.
“Please rate your feelings toward some people, organizations and concepts,” it asked, “with one-hundred meaning a VERY WARM, FAVORABLE feeling; zero meaning a VERY COLD, UNFAVORABLE feeling; and fifty meaning not particularly warm or cold.”
“The question which asked for attitudes toward pro-life groups is misleading,” New said. “There are many pro-life Catholics who, for a variety of reasons, may not have a positive opinion of pro-life groups,” he said.
“Some pro-lifers identify the pro-life movement with the rescue movement in the early 1980s and look down upon civil disobedience,” New continued. “Some pro-lifers may dislike the abortion victim photographs displayed by some pro-life groups. Some pro-life Catholics may think that pro-life groups are ineffective because after 43 years of legal abortion, Roe v. Wade has not been overturned.”
Reiterating that faithful Catholics support life, New said, “Again, the question about 'pro-life groups' likely skewed the survey results.”
