Under the plans, which he announced in September, parishes would be much larger, with three or five priests in charge, one of whom would be responsible to the archbishop, and each parish would be run jointly by priests and lay Catholics.
The poll by Professor Paul Zulehner, which surveyed 1,300 people in the archdiocese, showed that those asked were deeply worried about the future of their own parish and would far prefer the Sunday Eucharist to be held there.
Cardinal Schönborn said he was pleased his re-structuring had become "the subject of intensive discussion in every corner of the archdiocese" and pleased that the tone of the discussion "is becoming increasingly more constructive".