| New Pope Well Received by American Catholics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Survey of 1,000 Adults April 21-22, 2005
|
April 23, 2005--Days after learning the identity of their new spiritual leader, 50% of American Catholics have a favorable opinion of Pope Benedict XVI. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that just 15% have an unfavorable opinion. Fifty percent (50%) of American Catholics believe it is more important for the Church to "stick to the views that have guided it for centuries" rather than "change to accommodate modern lifestyles." Thirty-eight percent (38%) take the opposite view. Evangelical Christians also have a positive opinion of the new Pope--39% favorable and 13% unfavorable. Among other Protestants, the numbers are 30% favorable and 14% unfavorable. Those who are outside the Christian faith have a less favorable view--23% favorable and 21% unfavorable. Among all Americans who believe the Bible is literally true and the Word of God, 41% have a favorable opinion of the new Pope. Just 10% of these believers have an unfavorable opinion. Among those who do not believe the Bible is literally true, 24% have a favorable opinion of Pope Benedict while 35% have an unfavorable view. Sixty-three percent (63%) of all Americans believe the Bible is literally true and is the Word of God. Forty-seven percent (47%) pray every day or nearly every day. See Demographic Data. Rasmussen Reports has recently released Virginia polling data on the 2005 race for Governor, the 2006 U.S. Senate race, and thoughts about Hillary Clinton in 2008. Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Our publications provide real-time information on consumer confidence, investor confidence, employment data, the political situation, and other topics of value and interest. During Election 2004, RasmussenReports.com was the top-ranked public opinion research site on the web. We had twice as many visitors as our nearest competitor and nearly as many as all competitors combined. Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.
The telephone survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted by Rasmussen Reports April 21-22, 2005. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||