Catholiﷺcs are a key voting bloc in New York state, accounting for 35 perce🍬nt of all voters, more than any other religious group.
But that doesn’t mean Gov. Andrew Cuomo will take a political hit for taking on the Catholic Church over legislation expanding abortion protections and extending the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases.
“Th💃e leadership of the Catholic Church doesn’t always reflect the views of rank-and-file Catholic voters,” Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg said.
“The influence of the Cat🐓holic vote remains. But the influence of the church itself has decreased on some is𝔉sues.”
Cuomo is more in sync than the clergy with self-identified Catholics,💖 who have split ranks with church leadership’s teachings on the꧂ polarizing issue of abortion.
In the most recent Siena survey, 59 percent of Catholics backed Albany’s push for an updated abortion law, while only 30 percent wer🍨e opposed.
Catholic voters ꦺalso supported the Child Victims Act — which the Legislature passed Monday — ꧋by a lopsided 77 to 13 percent.
Until recently, Timothy Cardinal Dolan and the New York State Catholic Conference opposed the CVA, which will allow victims🐓 to press criminal♋ charges until they are 28 and pursue civil suits until age 55, while giving adults a one-year window to sue regardless of how far back an offense occurred.
William D’Antonio, a Catholic University sociology professor who has written books tracking Catholic voters since 19ꦺ87, said younger generations ar💖e drifting away from church leadership on social issues, especially abortion and same-sex marriage.
“The bishops are increasingly among themselves. The l🥂aity are not marching with the bishops on the abortion issue,” D’Antonio said.
He said his polling shows that more Catholic Republicans than Catholic Democrats side with the bishops on church teachin🅘gs.
But in New York, Democrats outnumber Republicans by better than two to ও🌞one.
So there’s ⭕little reason for Cuomo to sweat that his feud with the church will cost him politically.
Dolan seeꦍ🐼med to acknowledge as much during an appearance Tuesday on the Sirius XM Catholic Channel.
“His pollsters have shown this position is popu🍸lar. This position is going to win you votes. Until our people say, ‘It’s going to lose you votes, too,’ I don’t think [Cuomo’s] people are going to listen,” Dolan said.