Seven in Ten (71%) Canadians Approve of Pope John Paul II's Performance as Spiritual Leader - Unchanged from July 2002

Toronto, ONTARIO - As John Paul II celebrates the 25th Anniversary of his ascension to Pope, seven in ten (71%) Canadians say they approve of his performance as a spiritual leader according to a new Ipsos-Reid/CTV/Globe and Mail poll released today. In comparison, there has been no change in this figure since Canadians were last asked in July 2002 (71%).

As for agreement with the Pope's pronouncements on topics such as philosophy, abortion, birth control and evangelism, Canadians are now split with 47% who agree with the Pope's pronouncements, while just as many 46% disagree. However, this represents a slight increase in agreement from the 43% recorded in July 2002.

As for descriptions of Pope John Paul, over eight in ten (85%, -1 point from July 2002) describe the Pope as sincere, while eight in ten describe him as a peacemaker (80%, +1 point), humble (79%, -2 points), forgiving (78%, -4 points), and as a force for good in the world (77%, - 2 points). Just as many say that he is conservative (79%, -4 points), while four in ten (39%, + 1 point) believe that he is intolerant.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/CTV/Globe and Mail poll conducted between October 7th and October 10th, 2003. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,055 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

As John Paul II celebrates the 25th Anniversary of his ascension to Pope, seven in ten (71%) Canadians say they approve of his performance as a spiritual leader. One in five (21%) disapprove. While, overall approval has not changed since 2002 (71%), there has been a slight change in intensity of approval, with the number who strongly approve increasing to 32% from 23% in July 2002.

• Nine in ten (88%) Canadian Roman Catholics approve of the Pope's performance as a spiritual leader. This compares to the views of those in mainline Protestant denominations (74%), conservative Churches (70%), other Christian religions (64%), other religions (62%), and those who do not identify with any religion (56%).

• Regionally, residents of Atlantic Canada (81%) are significantly more likely to express approval than are residents of Ontario (69%) or British Columbia (66%).

• Older (75% - 41% strongly) Canadians are more likely to express approval of the job that Pope John Paul II has done as a spiritual leader than their young adult (72% - 28% strongly) or middle aged (67% - 29% strongly) counterparts. Middle aged (27% - 14% strongly) Canadians are significantly more likely to say they disapprove than are young adult (19% - 7% strongly) or older (17% - 6% strongly) Canadians.

• Canadians with a high school education (80%) are significantly more likely than those with a post-secondary education/some university (68%) or a university degree (67%) to express approval.

As for agreement with the Pope's pronouncements on topics such as philosophy, abortion, birth control and evangelism, Canadians are now split with 47% who agree with the Pope's pronouncements, while just as many 46% disagree. However, this represents a slight increase in agreement from the 43% recorded in July 2002.

• Two-thirds (64%) of Canadian Roman Catholics and those of conservative churches (65%) agree with the Pope's pronouncements. This compares to the views of those in mainline Protestant churches (40%), other Christian churches (47%), other religions (40%) and finally those who do not identify with any particular religion (30%).

• Older Canadians (53% - 21% strongly) are significantly more likely to express agreement with the Pope's pronouncements than are young adult (47% - 10% strongly) or middle-aged (42% - 12% strongly) Canadians.

• Canadians with less than a high school diploma (62%), those with a high school diploma (54%) and those with a post-secondary education/some university (48%) are significantly more likely than are university graduates (38%) to express agreement with the Pope's pronouncements. In fact, a majority (54%) of university graduates disagree.

• While there are no significant differences between regions on this question, Canadians in rural (53%) parts of the country are significantly more likely to express agreement than are those in urban areas (45%). Canadians in urban areas (48%) are significantly more likely than those in rural areas (40%) to disagree with the Pope's pronouncements.

As for the descriptions of Pope John Paul, over eight in ten (85%, -1 point from July 2002) describe the Pope as sincere, while eight in ten describe him as a peacemaker (80%, +1 point), humble (79%, -2 points), forgiving (78%, -4 points), and as a force for good in the world (77%, - 2 points). Just as many say that he is conservative (79%, -4 points), while four in ten (39%, + 1 point) believe that he is intolerant.

Please open the attached PDf files to view the detailed tables and release including a graph illustrating the results from today and July 2002.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:
Andrew Grenville
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos Insights
(416) 324-2900