THE TIMES POLL : Bishop Called Out of Line in Killea Pro-Choice Case

Californians of every religion, including people who oppose abortion, believe that a Catholic bishop was out of line when he barred a San Diego assemblywoman from receiving Communion because of her pro-choice stand, The Times Poll has found.

The fact that the assemblywoman, Democrat Lucy Killea, went on to score an upset victory in a state Senate race tends to substantiate another point illustrated by the poll: It helps when running for elective office in California to be pro-choice on abortion.

Most Californians generally favor abortion personally, the survey showed. This places them in disagreement with Americans as a whole, who basically oppose abortion, according to a nationwide survey conducted by The Times last March.

The latest state poll involved telephone interviews with 2,046 adults--1,594 of them registered voters--over a five-day period ending Wednesday night. The margin of error is three percentage points in either direction.

“Although religion has always played an important part in American politics, this survey reaffirms that a majority of voters are likely to resent attempts by the church to influence the outcome of political contests,” Times Poll Director I. A. Lewis said.

On other issues, the survey found that:

- The ballot measure pushed by Gov. George Deukmejian and the Legislature to raise gasoline taxes in order to finance highway construction and improvements still is in trouble with the voters, although support has increased since two October surveys by The Times Poll. In this latest survey, 36% favored the proposal and 42% opposed it, with 22% expressing no opinion. In early October, only 29% favored the measure and 53% were opposed.

- State Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp is running 10 points ahead of former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein in early jockeying for the 1990 Democratic gubernatorial nomination, 35% to 25% with 40% undecided. This is virtually the same standing as The Times Poll found in an October survey, when Van de Kamp held a 12-point lead.

- A hypothetical November runoff between Van de Kamp and Sen. Pete Wilson, the expected Republican gubernatorial nominee, now is dead even among registered voters, with each getting 33%. This marks no change from the October poll, when each had 34%. In a Wilson-Feinstein match-up, the GOP senator holds a 20-point lead, 45% to 25%. That is a widening of the gap since October when the candidates were 14 points apart.

Democratic Assemblywoman Killea’s stunning triumph in a Republican-dominated Senate district last Tuesday was viewed in both political and religious circles as a backlash against Roman Catholic Bishop Leo T. Maher’s widely publicized, harshly worded sanction against Killea. Although personally opposed to abortion, Killea advocates the pro-choice position of allowing each woman to decide for herself whether to have an abortion.

“If the bishop had stayed out of it, I would have won,” complained Killea’s bitter opponent, GOP Assemblywoman Carol Bentley. The Times Poll had no way of proving her contention, since this was a statewide survey. But it did show that Californians as a whole consider the bishop’s dramatic step in denying Communion to the candidate to be an unwarranted intrusion into politics.

Asked whether they regarded the bishop’s action as “appropriate or not,” 71% of the voters branded it inappropriate, including 70% of the Protestants and 71% of the Catholics. Only 21% felt it was appropriate.

Even a majority of voters who generally oppose abortion believed that the bishop was out of line, by 52% to 34%.

The survey reaffirmed that Californians are much more tolerant about abortion than are Americans generally. The Californians were asked whether they find themselves “more in favor of abortion or more opposed,” and the response was 54% in favor, 36% opposed and 10% not sure. By contrast, a national poll by The Times last March found Americans as a whole to be opposed to abortion, 40% to 34%.

Among California Catholics, there is a significant difference between voters and non-voters in their attitudes toward abortion. Catholics who are registered to vote favor abortion by a 5-4 ratio, but those who are not registered oppose it by 7 to 5.

Latinos overwhelmingly oppose abortion, by a ratio of 9 to 5. But their impact in the voting booth is disproportionately low because less than half--only 44%, according to this survey--are registered to vote. By contrast, 76% of all other racial and ethnic groups are registered. And these groups favor abortion by 7 to 4.

Basically, the higher people stand on the socioeconomic ladder the more they support abortion.

All these factors contribute to a political climate that tends to reward candidates who are pro-choice.

To illustrate the point, The Times Poll asked voters to choose between two mythical candidates for governor, a “Mr. A” and a “Mr. B.” The survey sample was divided, with the candidates’ abortion positions--whether pro-choice or anti-abortion--reversed for two voter groups. The result was that whichever candidate was described as pro-choice emerged as a lopsided winner.

Voters also were asked whether the abortion issue alone would cause them to abandon a candidate whom they normally would support except for the candidate’s position on abortion. The responses showed that anti-abortion voters tend to be slightly more committed to their cause than are pro-choice voters.

Anti-abortion voters, the survey showed, are somewhat more apt to desert a pro-choice candidate than pro-choice voters are to abandon an anti-abortion contender. But because there are significantly more voters who favor the right to abortion than oppose it, a candidate who takes a pro-choice position can count on gaining more votes than he loses, roughly two points worth.

Finally, voters were asked about their attitudes toward some candidate who might take a position “very different” from their own “on a sensitive issue,” but promised to “uphold the present law” rather than “impose his views on others.” Would the voter hesitate to support such a candidate or would the promise to uphold the law be sufficient?

This is more than just a hypothetical question in the 1990 gubernatorial race, because Van de Kamp personally opposes capital punishment but says he would carry out the law and allow murderers to be executed. As a Catholic, he also personally opposes abortion, but is pro-choice.

Voters were closely divided on the question in this survey, with 46% saying they would hesitate to vote for the candidate, 41% saying the “uphold the law” vow would be sufficient and 13% not sure what they would do.

The poll also showed that relatively few voters are paying any attention to the budding races for lesser state offices, such as lieutenant governor, attorney general and treasurer.

In the contest for the Democratic attorney general nomination, the poll showed, Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner holds a 10-point lead over San Francisco Dist. Atty. Arlo Smith, but 66% had no opinion.

State Sens. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) and John Seymour (R-Anaheim) are running virtually even for the GOP lieutenant governor nomination, with a whopping 87% holding no view on the contest. Abortion could become an issue in that race since Seymour’s surprise announcement in September that he had reversed his position and is now pro-choice.

Similarly, State Treasurer Thomas Hayes and former U.S. Treasurer Angela (Bay) Buchanan of Irvine are running even in their bids for the GOP treasurer nomination, but 68% have no opinion.

VOTING PREFERENCES

If the November general election for governor were between John K. Van de Kamp and Pete Wilson, would you vote for: * John K. Van de Kamp: 33% Pete Wilson: 33% No opinion: 34% If the election were between Dianne Feinstein and Pete Wilson, would you vote for: * Dianne Feinstein: 25% Pete Wilson: 45% No opinion: 30% *Based on registered voters If the Democratic primary for governor were held today, would you vote for: * Dianne Feinstein: 25% John K. Van de Kamp: 35% No opinion: 40% If the Democratic primary for attorney general were held today, would you vote for: * Ira Reiner: 22% Arlo Smith: 12% No opinion: 66% *Based on registered Democrats If the Republican primary for lieutenant governor were held today, would you vote for: * Marian Bergeson: 6% John Seymour: 7% No opinion: 87% If the Republican primary for treasurer were held today, would you vote for: * Angela (Bay) Buchanan: 15% Tom Hayes: 17% No opinion: 68% *Based on registered Republicans SOURCE: Los Angeles Times Poll