U.S Catholics Show Mixed Views on Pope

Two-Thirds believe Benedict XVI should remain Pontiff, yet majority negative about addressing of sexual abuse issues

UTICA, New York - Results of a new Zogby Interactive survey show mixed results among American Catholics' evaluations of Catholic Church leaders. Both Pope Benedict XVI and American Catholic Bishops receive largely negative ratings in their handling of the sexual abuse situation with the church. However, pluralities approve of the overalljob performance of both the Pope and Bishops. In addition, a clear majority of American Catholics believe Pope Benedict XVI should continue to serve as Pope.
Fifty-six percent of American Catholics approve of the overall job that Pope Benedict XVI is doing, with 32% disapproving. Approval of U.S. Bishops is somewhat lower, with 45% approving of their overall job, and 44% disapproving.

When asked specifically about how Pope Benedict XVI has dealt with the sexual abuse situation within the Catholic Church, a plurality of American Catholics give negative ratings to both the Pope and American Catholic Bishops. Only 15% believe that Pope Benedict XVI has done an "excellent" job addressing the sexual abuse situation within the Church, with 23% believing he has done a good job, 26% believing he has done a fair job and 30% believing he has done a poor job.

Ratings for American Bishops are lower, with 8% rating the Bishops' efforts to address the sexual abuse situation within the Church as excellent, 12% rating their efforts as good, 29% rating their efforts as fair and 43% rating their efforts as poor.

Finally, though a plurality give Pope Benedict XVI a "poor" rating on addressing sexual abuse within the Church, a clear majority of American Catholics believe Pope Benedict XVI should remain Pope. Only 16% believe the Pope should resign as a result of sexual abuse within the Church, while 64% believe he should continue as Pope, and 20% are unsure.

Additional results from this survey will be formally released by John Zogby in a speech to the National Catholic Reporter on May 6, 2010. This interactive survey, conducted by Zogby International Apr. 30 through May 3, 2010, has a sample size of 705 Catholics nationwide. A sampling of Zogby International's online panel, which is representative of the adult population of the U.S., was invited to participate. Slight weights were added to region, age, race, gender and education to more accurately reflect the Catholic population. The margin of error is +/- 3.8 percentage points. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.