Washington, USA - Three-quarters of American Roman Catholics consider themselves in good standing with their church even if they don't attend mass weekly or obey the church ban on artificial contraception, according to a new survey.
The wide-ranging poll also asked Catholics their political affiliation, with 37 percent saying they're Republican, 41 percent Democrat and 22 percent independent.
Asked about ways to solve the priest shortage, three-quarters said the church should ordain married men, while 61 percent supported ordaining celibate women. Eighty-one percent said clergy who left to marry should be allowed to return.
The poll of 875 people had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.