WASHINGTON - A majority of white working-class Catholics - 56
percent - think abortion should be legal in all or most
cases, according to a survey by the Public Religion Research
Institute.
A smaller majority of the same category of Catholics - 52
percent - favors same-sex marriage, said the study released
Sept. 20.
In contrast, 53 percent of white working-class Protestants
believe that abortion should illegal in all or most cases,
while 52 percent of the same group oppose same-sex marriage.
The Catholic Church opposes abortion and same-sex marriage.
Robert P. Jones, the institute's CEO, told Catholic News
Service the survey was conducted to gain insight into the
views of white working-class Americans on cultural, economic,
religious and political topics.
"One of the things we're hoping the survey will do is move
the debates around the white working-class and the needs of
this class or working Americans ... to the realm of facts,"
Jones said.
The study defines white working-class people as non-Hispanic
Americans without a four-year college degree who hold
non-salaried jobs. White working-class people account for
about 36 percent of all Americans and 53 percent of all
whites.
The results are based on telephone interviews with 2,501
adults in the continental United States from Aug. 2 to Aug.
15. Of the total, 857 respondents were working-class whites.
The margin of error was plus or minus 2.2 percentage points
for the entire survey and 3.7 percent for working-class
respondents.
Twenty percent of respondents identified themselves as
Catholic, while 19 percent said they were mainline
Protestants and 36 percent were evangelical.
The study also found that 34 percent of the working-class
attend worship services at least weekly, 33 percent attend
occasionally (once or twice month or a few times a year) and
32 percent seldom or never attend church.
"That is interesting," Jones said of the religious findings.
"The stereotype from the left has been that these are kind of
hyper-religious folks who vote along culture war lines and
are maybe even blind to their economic interests.
"The stereotype from the right ... is that this group has
lost its grounding in their religiosity and traditional work
ethic. The survey found they're pretty solidly church
affiliated and church attenders," he said.
In addition to abortion, the wide-ranging study looks at a
variety of issues facing Americans. Areas surveyed include
support for presidential candidates in the Nov. 6 elections,
views on the economy, major problems facing communities,
cultural influences, consumer preferences and same-sex
marriage. In many categories responses were contrasted with
white college educated people. In some categories, answers
were broken down by religious belief.
The survey found that working-class people are significantly
less likely than college-educated people to be married (46
percent to 63 percent) and nearly twice as likely to be
divorced (15 percent to 8 percent). The study attributed the
differences partly to the greater economic insecurity faced
by the working class.
The study identified distinct economic differences by social
class. Despite working more hours each week (51 hours versus
46 hours), working-class respondents reported they are in
worse financial shape. Two-thirds (66 percent) of the working
class said they were in poor or fair financial shape, while
63 percent of college-educated respondents said they were in
good or excellent shape.
Only 40 percent of working-class Americans reported being
employed full time compared with 59 percent of the college
educated. Ten percent of the working-class were unemployed,
while just 6 percent of the college educated were without
jobs.
"The thing that's telling, and it's not really surprising if
you step back, the top of their agenda is the economy," Jones
added.
Working-class Americans were more likely than
college-educated people to identify challenges facing the
country. Two-thirds (67 percent) of working-class people
reported that a lack of good jobs is a major problem compared
with 52 percent of college-educated people.
Other economic and social concerns working-class people say
have higher importance than do college-education people
include:
- Lack of opportunities for young people, 56 percent to 46
percent.
- Home foreclosures, 49 percent to 36 percent.
- Lack of funding for public schools, 47 percent to 43
percent.
- Crime, 32 percent to 19 percent.
- Illegal immigration, 29 percent to 19 percent.
- Racial tensions, 17 percent to 9 percent.
Looking at the upcoming presidential election, the survey
found that the working-class favored Republican Mitt Romney
over President Barack Obama, the Democrat, by 48 percent to
35 percent. College-educated people preferred Romney by 44
percent to 42 percent. Obama maintained a sizable advantage
among blacks (87 percent to 2 percent) and Hispanics (55
percent to 27 percent).
Other findings show:
- The working-class (13 percent) are no more likely than
college educated (10 percent) to identify with the Tea Party.
Working-class people (34 percent) are nearly equally as
likely as the college educated (31 percent) to say the Tea
Party movement shares their values.
- Seventy percent of working-class people believe the
American economic system unfairly favors the wealthy, while
53 percent said that a major challenge to the U.S. is that
not everyone has an equal chance in life. Meanwhile, 46
percent of the working-class believe that capitalism and the
free market system are at odds with Christian values compared
with 38 percent who disagree with that view.
- Sixty-two percent of working-class people favor raising
taxes on Americans with incomes of more than $1 million
annually.
- Thirty-nine percent of working-class Americans feel
connected to the government compared to 51 percent of the
college educated.
The study, titled "Beyond Guns and God: Understanding the
Complexities of the White Working Class in America," is
available at http://publicreligion.org.