A new poll is out from Public Policy Polling, conducted on behalf of Planned Parenthood, on voter attitudes toward the new Obama administration requirement that employers who provide health insurance must also cover, co-pay-free, prescription birth control.
The PPP poll finds that “a 53 percent majority of Catholic voters, who were oversampled as part of this poll, favor the benefit, including fully 62 percent of Catholics who identify themselves as independents.”
The poll also found 57% of all voters (and a 53% majority of Catholics) “think that women employed by Catholic hospitals and universities should have the same rights to contraceptive coverage as other women.”
This poll phrased the question differently than the PRRI poll I wrote about earlier today. The PRRI poll asked, “There is currently a debate over what kinds of health care plans some religious organizations should be required to provide. Do you think [religiously affiliated colleges and hospitals] should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception or birth control at no cost, or not?”
PPP phrased the question this way:
Some people say that institutions such as Catholic hospitals and universities should be exempted from the requirement that health plans cover prescription birth control with no additional out of pocket costs, because contraception runs counter to Catholic teachings. Other people say that women of all faiths who are employed by Catholic hospitals and universities should have the same rights to contraceptive coverage as other women. Which view do you agree with — Catholic hospitals and universities should be exempted from covering prescription birth control, or that women who are employed by Catholic hospitals and universities should have the same rights to contraceptive coverage as other women?
The PPP poll actually laid out the Bishops’ position in more detail than the PRRI poll. The PRRI poll found only 45% of Catholic voters supported the requirement, with 52% opposed. But with the more detailed question, PPP found a majority of Catholics in favor of requiring the religious institutions, over the Bishops’ objections, to provide the coverage.
