The Fox News Channel has featured a stream of right-thinking pundits blasting the Obama administration for infringing on “religious liberty,” but Fox’s own national poll finds top-heavy public support for offering birth control coverage in health plans.

By a 61-34 percent margin, those surveyed this week approve of the Obama administration requiring all employee health plans to provide birth control coverage as part of health care for women.

Sixty-seven percent of women surveyed, and 65 percent of Catholic women, supported the contraception/birth control requirement. Fifty-three percent of men surveyed endorsed birth control coverage.

The Catholic hierarchy has relentlessly opposed the birth control requirement. Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain has addressed the issue in a March for Life sermon, a statement earlier this week and an article. All warned about threats to religious liberties.

But the flock isn’t buying it. The Fox poll 58 percent of Catholics endorsing birth control coverage. It tracks almost exactly with a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute released earlier this week. It, too, found that 58 percent of Catholics were in approval.

While Fox News coverage is relentlessly critical of President Obama, the poll found the president’s prospects looking up.

Obama would defeat Republican Mitt Romney by a 47-42 margin were the election held today, up from 46-45 in January. The President enjoys a 48-38 percent margin over Ron Paul, leads Rick Santorum by 50-38 percent, is at 51-38 percent is 13 points ahead of Newt Gingrich.

Obama gets a 48 percent job approval, up three points from January and his highest rating in a Fox survey since last June.

The poll found other alarming news for Republicans. There is a higher level of enthusiasm for Obama than for any of his GOP challengers. And about half of Republican primary voters hope somebody else gets into the rating.

The survey of 1,100 voters has a margin of error of plus/minus 3 percent. It was taken Monday through Thursday.