Poll: Contraception Battle Doesn't Impact Obama Rating Among Catholics
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Based on new polling from Gallup, it appears Catholics didn't change their opinion of President Barack Obama after his recent decision forcing insurers to cover the cost of birth control.
According to the poll, Obama's approval rating among Catholics stood at 46 percent this week. That's down three percent from the previous week, but inside the margin of error for the study, meaning there's been virtually no change in the rating.
In addition, Gallup found that Obama's approval among Catholics had no correlation to how often they attended church.
Last week, the White House announced plans to force insurers to pay for birth control and added rules to pacify religious groups that oppose birth control.
The new rules make sure religious institutions don't have to pay for contraceptives coverage for employees, but that insurance companies do.
Republicans in Washington have called the rule an assault against religious freedom, but most women's groups and the general public have come out in favor of the new rule.
Ironically, the very representatives who are fighting the coverage rule are protected by a similar rule in place for all federal health care plans.
Catholic groups, who don't support birth control, have been leading the charge against the new rules. However, several of the most prominent Catholic hospitals already provide the coverage to their employees.
