Civitas Poll: It’s About Religious Freedom, Not a ‘War on Women’!

April 2, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jim Tynen (919) 834-2099
James.Tynen@NCCivitas.org

Civitas Poll: It’s About Religious Freedom, Not a ‘War on Women’!

Raleigh — North Carolina voters say the First Amendment and freedom of religion are what the recent national battle over contraceptive coverage is really all about, according to the latest Civitas Institute poll.

Forty-five percent of voters agreed with Republicans’ description of this issue as a First Amendment concern and an affront to freedom of religion. Thirty-two percent sided with Democrats that this issue was about a Republican “war on women” and denying women access to health care, contraception and ultimately, abortion. Fourteen percent answered that they did not know.

A plurality of men and women sided with Republicans. Party members sided with their respective parties, except for the 25 percent of Democrats who sided with Republicans. Unaffiliated voters chose the Republican position by a slight plurality of 3 percent. All income brackets above the $25,000 range sided with Republicans, with most being a majority or almost a majority.

“While the war of words at the national level has quieted down, the impression left with NC voters is that this is an issue of religious freedom and First Amendment rights,” said Civitas President Francis De Luca.

The Civitas Poll is the only regular live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina.  For more information on Civitas polling, see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.

Full text of questions:

In your opinion which of the following statements better characterizes the current debate over “contraception” that is going on in national politics?

32%     According to the Democrats, this issue is about the Republican war on women and denying women access to health care, contraception and ultimately abortion.

45%     According to Republicans, this issue is about the first amendment and freedom of religion — that you can’t require religiously affiliated groups to go against their teachings by making them provide birth control and abortion inducing drugs.

5%       Other

14%     Don’t Know

3%       Refused

For the full results and crosstabs, click here. This poll of 600 registered 2012 general election voters in North Carolina was conducted March 22-25, 2012 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ.  All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered 2012 general election voters in North Carolina.  For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in at least one of the past three general elections (2006, 2008, 2010) or be newly registered to vote since November 2, 2010.

The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in at least one of the past three general elections or is newly registered since November 2, 2010.

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