A new poll released Friday shows
majority support among Catholics for gay marriage.
According to the Quinnipiac
University poll, 54 percent of Catholics favor marriage equality,
while 38 percent remain opposed. That's a 5 percent increase in
support since a poll from December.
“Catholic voters are leading American
voters toward support for same-sex marriage,” Peter A. Brown,
assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute,
said in a statement.
Overall, the poll found a plurality
(47%) of Americans favor marriage equality, while 43 percent remain
opposed.
“Among all voters, there is almost no
gender gap, but a big age gap. Voters 18 to 34 years old support
same-sex marriage 62 – 30 percent; voters 35 to 54 years old are
divided 48 – 45 percent and voters over 55 are opposed 50 to 39
percent,” Brown said.
The poll also found that a majority
(52%) of Catholics believe church leaders are out of touch with the
views of Catholics in America today and that the next pope should
move the church in a new direction (55%).