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Planned Parenthood: Polls show Catholics, voters favor contraception coverage

Posted Feb 7, 2012 by William March

Updated Feb 7, 2012 at 04:10 PM

Planned Parenthood today went on a public relations offensive over the issue of a federal requirement for health insurance plans to cover contraception, sponsoring one poll and publicizing another that it says show voters, including Catholics, favor the coverage.

A poll done for Planned Parenthood by Public Policy Polling indicates that a majority of voters and of Catholic voters don’t believe Catholic institutions such as hospitals and schools should be exempted.

The poll said 56 percent of voters support requiring health plans to cover prescription birth control, with 37 percent opposed. Catholic voters, it said, support the requirement by 53-44 percent.

The respondents were also asked whether they believe “institutions such as Catholic hospitals and universities should be exempted ... because contraception runs counter to Catholic teachings” or whether “women of all faiths who are employed by
Catholic hospitals and universities should have the same rights to contraceptive coverage as other women.”

Responses were 57-39 percent opposed to the exemption among all voters, and 53-45 percent opposed among Catholic voters, said pollster Tom Jensen.

The poll, done Feb. 3-5, covered 1,085 registered voters, for an error margin of 3 points. That included 359 Catholic voters, for an error margin of 5.2 points among that group.

Respondents in the poll also said by a 40-23 percent margin that presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s stance against the coverage requirement would make them less likely to vote for him.

The findings suggest, “He’s playing with fire,” Jensen said. “It doesn’t square with the image as moderate on social issues he’s trying to achieve.”

The poll didn’t mention Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has also staked out a high-profile public position opposing the requirement, filing legislation in the Senate to guarantee the exemption to religious institutions.

Asked about the results, Rubio spokesman Alex Conant responded, “We aren’t interested in the polling on the issue. The senator introduced his legislation because defending religious freedoms is the right thing to do,” and the requirement is “an overreach that violates Constitutional rights.”

Public Policy Polling is a North Carolina-based, Democratic-oriented polling and political consulting firm, which says its published polls are neutral. You can see Jensen’s memo on the findings here.

Planned Parenthood also publicized the findings of a poll done by the Public Religion Research Institute, which also found majorities in favor of the coverage.