Opinion of Catholics

• Introduction
• Patterns

Opinion of Catholics (Demographic Patterns)

Thinking about specific religious groups, what is your overall opinion of: Catholics?

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Opinion of Catholics by Gender (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Male	Female	TOTAL
Very favorable	16.5% 152	21.2% 229	19.0% 381
Mostly favorable	56.6% 522	56.1% 606	56.3% 1128
Mostly unfavorable	9.9% 91	8.2% 89	9.0% 180
Very unfavorable	3.7% 34	2.6% 28	3.1% 62
Never heard of	0.1% 1	0.2% 2	0.1% 3
Can't rate	10.5% 97	9.9% 107	10.2% 204
Refused	2.7% 25	1.8% 19	2.2% 44
TOTAL	100% 922	100% 1080	2002

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Opinion of Catholics by Political party (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Republican	Democrat	No pref	Oth party	DK/Refused	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	20.4% 133	19.2% 114	12.4% 15	0.0% 0	24.1% 13	106	19.3% 275
Mostly favorable	58.8% 384	57.9% 344	46.3% 56	50.0% 2	38.9% 21	321	56.6% 807
Mostly unfavorable	8.3% 54	7.7% 46	13.2% 16	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	64	8.1% 116
Very unfavorable	2.0% 13	3.9% 23	4.1% 5	0.0% 0	5.6% 3	18	3.1% 44
Never heard of	0.0% 0	0.2% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	1.9% 1	1	0.1% 2
Can't rate	8.6% 56	9.3% 55	20.7% 25	0.0% 0	20.4% 11	57	10.3% 147
Refused	2.0% 13	1.9% 11	3.3% 4	50.0% 2	9.3% 5	9	2.5% 35
TOTAL	100% 653	100% 594	100% 121	100% 4	100% 54	576	1426

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Opinion of Catholics by Family income (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	<20,000	20-30,000	30-50,000	50-75,000	75,000+	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	19.2% 60	20.4% 48	14.7% 65	19.6% 62	20.5% 81	65	18.6% 316
Mostly favorable	52.2% 163	56.2% 132	56.2% 248	59.9% 190	63.3% 250	145	57.8% 983
Mostly unfavorable	9.6% 30	6.4% 15	11.6% 51	9.1% 29	9.4% 37	18	9.5% 162
Very unfavorable	5.1% 16	4.3% 10	3.2% 14	1.9% 6	0.3% 1	15	2.8% 47
Never heard of	0.3% 1	0.4% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	1	0.1% 2
Can't rate	12.2% 38	10.2% 24	12.5% 55	8.5% 27	5.3% 21	39	9.7% 165
Refused	1.3% 4	2.1% 5	1.8% 8	0.9% 3	1.3% 5	19	1.5% 25
TOTAL	100% 312	100% 235	100% 441	100% 317	100% 395	302	1700

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Opinion of Catholics by Education (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Less than high school	High school graduate	Some college	College +	Refused	TOTAL
Very favorable	16.4% 30	18.7% 121	20.0% 105	19.4% 124	12.5% 1	19.0% 381
Mostly favorable	45.9% 84	54.6% 353	55.2% 290	62.2% 398	37.5% 3	56.3% 1128
Mostly unfavorable	8.7% 16	8.8% 57	9.7% 51	8.6% 55	12.5% 1	9.0% 180
Very unfavorable	6.6% 12	3.4% 22	3.6% 19	1.3% 8	12.5% 1	3.1% 62
Never heard of	1.6% 3	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.1% 3
Can't rate	18.0% 33	11.6% 75	9.7% 51	6.7% 43	25.0% 2	10.2% 204
Refused	2.7% 5	2.8% 18	1.7% 9	1.9% 12	0.0% 0	2.2% 44
TOTAL	100% 183	100% 646	100% 525	100% 640	100% 8	2002

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Opinion of Catholics by Marital status (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Married	Divorced	Separated	Widowed	Never been married	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	19.6% 206	17.3% 48	24.5% 12	22.5% 40	17.1% 74	1	19.1% 380
Mostly favorable	57.2% 602	57.0% 158	61.2% 30	45.5% 81	57.8% 251	6	56.4% 1122
Mostly unfavorable	8.8% 93	9.7% 27	4.1% 2	10.1% 18	8.8% 38	2	8.9% 178
Very unfavorable	2.6% 27	4.0% 11	0.0% 0	4.5% 8	3.5% 15	1	3.1% 61
Never heard of	0.1% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	1.1% 2	0.0% 0	0	0.2% 3
Can't rate	9.2% 97	10.8% 30	6.1% 3	14.6% 26	10.8% 47	1	10.2% 203
Refused	2.5% 26	1.1% 3	4.1% 2	1.7% 3	2.1% 9	1	2.2% 43
TOTAL	100% 1052	100% 277	100% 49	100% 178	100% 434	12	1990

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Opinion of Catholics by Age (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55+	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	22.6% 54	16.0% 51	19.6% 80	15.8% 60	21.1% 133	3	19.1% 378
Mostly favorable	54.4% 130	56.3% 179	55.5% 227	65.4% 248	52.3% 329	15	56.4% 1113
Mostly unfavorable	7.9% 19	11.0% 35	10.0% 41	7.4% 28	8.6% 54	3	9.0% 177
Very unfavorable	3.3% 8	3.8% 12	2.7% 11	2.4% 9	3.3% 21	1	3.1% 61
Never heard of	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.3% 1	0.3% 2	0	0.2% 3
Can't rate	9.6% 23	11.6% 37	10.8% 44	7.7% 29	11.0% 69	2	10.2% 202
Refused	2.1% 5	1.3% 4	1.5% 6	1.1% 4	3.3% 21	4	2.0% 40
TOTAL	100% 239	100% 318	100% 409	100% 379	100% 629	28	1974

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Opinion of Catholics by Religious preference (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Christian	Jewish	Athst/Agno	Other	No pref	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	20.8% 336	32.3% 10	4.8% 3	7.1% 5	12.8% 23	4	19.2% 377
Mostly favorable	58.4% 945	48.4% 15	54.8% 34	61.4% 43	41.7% 75	16	56.7% 1112
Mostly unfavorable	7.2% 116	3.2% 1	24.2% 15	15.7% 11	18.3% 33	4	9.0% 176
Very unfavorable	2.8% 46	0.0% 0	1.6% 1	5.7% 4	5.6% 10	1	3.1% 61
Never heard of	0.1% 2	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.6% 1	0	0.2% 3
Can't rate	9.2% 148	9.7% 3	12.9% 8	10.0% 7	15.0% 27	11	9.8% 193
Refused	1.5% 24	6.5% 2	1.6% 1	0.0% 0	6.1% 11	6	1.9% 38
TOTAL	100% 1617	100% 31	100% 62	100% 70	100% 180	42	1960

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Notes

Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002: This project investigated the public's attitudes on religion and public life. The survey was commissioned by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (www.people-press.org) and produced two reports. The first report addressed America’s struggle with religion in the post 9-11 climate. The second report examined the public’s attitudes about genetic research.