August 22, 2008	Friday	Sha'aban 19, 1429

NEW YORK, Aug 21: A major new poll released on Thursday by Catholics for Choice reveals that Catholic voters, who make up 25 per cent of the American electorate, are currently splitting their vote for president between Barack Obama and John McCain, but are united in their aversion to mixing religion and politics.

Seven in 10 (70 per cent) of those polled say that the views of Catholic bishops are unimportant to them in deciding for whom to vote and a similarly large proportion (73 per cent) says they believe Catholic politicians are under no religious obligation to vote on issues the way the bishops recommend.

Catholic voters show little interest in so-called values issues to help them decide who should be the next president. Instead, they want the next president to focus on improving the economy, ending the war in Iraq and keeping the country safe from terrorism.

The race for president is currently a close one among Catholic voters. At the time the survey was conducted: 42 per cent of Catholics would vote for Democrat Barack Obama and 40 per cent would vote for Republican John McCain, with one in six (17 per cent) undecided.

McCain holds a slim lead among white Catholic voters (44 to 37 per cent), while Obama is winning the Latino Catholic vote by a huge margin (61 to 23 per cent). (Latinos make up one in six Catholic voters.)

The youngest voters, ages 18 to 34, prefer Obama over McCain 47 to 41 per cent.

When younger voters are combined with voters slightly older, the vote splits by gender: Catholic women under 45 years old go with Obama (48 to 37 per cent) while men under 45 tend toward McCain (46 to 41 per cent).