Tag Archives: opinion poll

Pope Francis is world’s most popular leader, poll finds

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Pope Francis is the most popular world leader according to a new opinion poll by WIN/Gallup.The survey, taken by 1,000 people in 64 countries respectively, puts the popularity of the Pope above US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande.Francis achieved a net score of +41 – the difference between favourable and unfavourable opinions – 11 points ahead of closest rival President Obama, who achieved +30.Citizens in countries around the world were asked: “Irrespective of your own religion, do you have a very favourable, somewhat favourable, somewhat unfavourable or very unfavourable opinion of Pope Francis?”Five out of 10 respondents (54 per cent) hol

Source: Pope Francis is world’s most popular leader, poll finds

U.S. Catholics Overwhelmingly Reject LGBT Discrimination by State Legislatures

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Marriage equality’s legalization in the United States last year has prompted an anti-LGBT backlash at state and local levels. Bills ostensibly defending religious liberty  allow legal discrimination for opponents of equality. Conversely, ordinances to expand non-discrimination protections  for LGBT people face strong religious opposition. Where are Catholics amid these debates?

New polling from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) shows 73% of U.S. Catholics support LGBT nondiscrimination protections, two points higher than the 71% U.S. average. 61% of Catholics oppose allowing business owners to deny service to LGBT people. Even those opposed to marriage equality are far more approving of non-discrimination protections,according to PRRI CEO Robert P. Jones.

Source: U.S. Catholics Overwhelmingly Reject LGBT Discrimination by State Legislatures | Bondings 2.0

Worldwide, Catholics Disagree with Vatican Sexual Doctrines.

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There is an abundance of research evidence to show that US Catholics reject Vatican doctrines on almost all elements of sexual doctrines, from contraception through masturbation and cohabitation, to gay marriage. Conservative Catholics often respond to this evidence with the claim that outside North America and Europe, things are different. From a global perspective, they claim, most Catholics support church teaching. Findings of a new global survey show they are wrong.

Pope Francis faces church divided over doctrine, global poll of Catholics finds

Most Catholics worldwide disagree with church teachings on divorce, abortion and contraception and are split on whether women and married men should become priests, according to a large new poll released Sunday and commissioned by the U.S. Spanish-language network Univision.

Catholics worldwide approve of contraception (graphic - Washington Post)

Catholics worldwide approve of contraception (graphic – Washington Post)

On the topic of gay marriage, two-thirds of Catholics polled agree with church leaders.

Overall, however, the poll of more than 12,000 Catholics in 12 countries reveals a church dramatically divided: Between the developing world in Africa and Asia, which hews closely to doctrine on these issues, and Western countries in Europe, North America and parts of Latin America, which strongly support practices that the church teaches are immoral.

The widespread disagreement with Catholic doctrine on abortion and contraception and the hemispheric chasm lay bare the challenge for Pope Francis’s year-old papacy and the unity it has engendered.

 – The Washington Post.

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Catholics Support Gay Marriage – in Virginia

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By a substantial margin, Catholics in Virginia support gay marriage  – by 56 percent to 40 percent, That’s from a new poll of the state, by  Quinnipiac:

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Quinnipiac Poll: Gay Marriage and Virginians

 

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Fifty percent of registered Virginia voters support same-sex marriage compared to 43 percent who don’t, with a clear majority of women approving it, a new poll has found.

The Connecticut-based university interviewed 1,030 registered Virginia voters from July 11-15. The poll’s results, released Thursday morning, have a margin of sampling error that is plus-or-minus 3.1 percentage points.

The contentious issue of gay marriage becomes more relevant in Virginia after last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in two cases. The court struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that denied tax, health and pension benefits to single-gender couples. The high court also upheld a lower court decision voiding California’s Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage. That puts the determination of whether to allow same-sex couples to marry in 50 state capitals, not Washington.

In the 2006 general election, an amendment to the state Constitution that bans gay marriage in Virginia passed 57 percent to 43 percent. Since the Supreme Court rulings, gay rights organizations such as Equality Virginia have begun preparing long-term efforts aimed at eventually repealing the amendment.

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia now allow same-sex marriage.

The Quinnipiac poll found substantial age, gender, ethnic, educational, religious and political divides in the emotionally charged debate.

Catholics favored gay marriage 56 percent to 40 percent, while Protestants opposed it 57 percent to 36 percent. Among those who identified themselves as born-again evangelicals, 74 percent opposed it.

– more at  WJLA.com.

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Poll shows most Britons want gay marriages and straight civil partnership

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New YouGov poll shows majority of Britons support same-sex marriages and civil partnerships for straight couples

Most Britons back same-sex marriage legislation with only a third against.

That’s the result of a new poll by YouGov.

It indicated ongoing support for the legislation going through the UK Parliament for the change in England and Wales. Separate legislation is being developed in Scotland.

The survey found 54% of Britons support same sex marriage legislation, with 36% opposed. Among Conservatives, more people oppose the measures than support them but the margin is narrow (48% to 45%).

And 64% of Britons support opening up civil partnerships to straight couples. Heterosexuals in a relationship were the most likely to back the change (73% supportive).

Civil partnerships give couples similar legal rights as civil marriage and have been available to same sex couples since 2005. At present, straight couples cannot have a civil partnership.

The poll also looked at whether people preferred marriage or a civil partnership. Nearly three-quarters of Britons (74%) would prefer to be married to someone ‘in an ideal world’. Only one in 20 (5%) would prefer a civil partnership.

This shows why it is important to allow same sex couples to marry – most Britons still see marriage as the ideal, preferring marriage to a civil partnership.

-continue reading at Gay Star News.

 

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Majority Support for Gay Marriage – in Arizona!

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After years of beating the drums against same-sex marriage, opponents of the idea in Arizona appear to be losing their grip on public attitudes toward the issue. By a ratio of 55 percent to 35percent, Arizonans say they favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry.

arizona-gay-rights

Majorities in the followinggroups appear to have locked arms in support of such unions: women (60%), Hispanics (75%),liberals (67%), moderates (64%), registered Independents (64%), Democrats (70%), and votersunder 55 years of age (60%).A plurality of voters over 54 years of age also favor allowing such unions (46%); while 40percent remain in opposition.Finally, opposition to same-sex marriage divides Republican voters, with 53 percent opposed but 36 percent now in favor. Similarly, while 51 percent of political conservatives are opposed, 41 percent favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.

(The poll also found majority support for allowing marijuana for personal, non – medical use).

It is perhaps ironic that as support for same-sex marriage and defelonization of marijuanahave long been albatrosses which conservative candidates could hang around the necks of some of their moderate or liberal challengers, it now appears that hard opposition to gay marriage andperhaps even to marijuana liberalization could become issues moderates and liberals can use againsttheir conservative opponents

via Rocky Mountain, Arizona poll, May 2013.

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Southern Baptist Convention Poll: More Bad News for Anti-Gay Activists

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The Southern Baptist Convention’s polling arm LifeWay is out with a new poll revealing widespread support for gay rights, particularly among young people. According to the survey, a clear majority of Americans believe that “homosexuality is a civil rights issue like gender, race and age,” agree that same-sex marriage is “inevitable” and oppose employment discrimination against gays and lesbians.

The denomination is a fierce critic of marriage equality and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and last year passed a resolution “opposing the idea that gay rights are the same as civil rights.”

Richard Land, the denomination’s top political spokesman, has claimed that the Devil is behind homosexuality and warned that gay rights will lead to divine judgment and “paganization.” While the SBC believes it is wrong to consider gay rights a civil rights issues, Land compared his own anti-gay activism to Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership of the Civil Rights Movement.

Key findings from the poll include:

  • 64 percent of those polled agreed “it is inevitable that same-sex marriage will become legal throughout the United States.”
  • “80 percent of Americans disagree that employers should be allowed to refuse employment to someone based on their sexual preference.”
  • 58 percent of respondents agreed with the question: “like age, race, and gender, homosexuality is a civil rights issue.”
  • A majority of Americans believe rental halls and landlords should not be allowed to discriminate against same-sex couples.
  • “More Americans do not believe homosexual behavior is a sin than those who believe it is a sin.”

The poll also found that women, young people and people with college degrees were more likely to favor gay rights.

LifeWay’s survey appears to line up with a new bipartisan analysis of exit polls which found that opposition to marriage equality is concentrated among the elderly, white evangelical Christians and people without college degrees.

 – Right Wing Watch, March 12, 2013

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Majority of religious Britons support gay marriage, poll shows

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Majority of religious Britons back gay marriage, Stonewall poll reveals

YouGov survey for Stonewall flies in the face of Church of England warnings about impact of gay marriage

Despite condemnation by the Church of England today (12 June), a new poll has revealed more than half of religious people in Britain support gay marriage.

The findings by LGBT rights group Stonewall show three in five people of faith support the UK government’s plans to legalize gay marriage in England and Wales, with 71% of Britons saying they back legislation to extend civil marriage to same-sex couples.

The YouGov survey of 2,000 people also revealed four in five of those with a faith believe that it’s right to tackle prejudice against lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

The figures fly in the face of warnings by the Church of England today and fierce opposition from a large anti-gay religious lobby.

Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill said: ‘Recently we’ve heard senior clerics distressingly compare marriage for gay people to polygamy, bestiality and child abuse.

‘This polling holes below the waterline the suggestion that they speak for the majority of Britain’s faith communities and vindicates years of campaigning by Stonewall to change public attitudes.’

-full report at Gay Star News

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