MADRID — Most Spaniards do not like the centuries-old spectacle of bullfighting but don’t want it banned, a poll showed yesterday after Catalonia announced that, as of 2012, it will no longer sanction the sport most associated with Spain.

Three hundred of 500 people polled, or 60 percent, said they did not enjoy bullfighting. Yet 57 percent disagreed with the decision to do away with it.

Animal-rights activists have fought to stop the practice for years, but even they attributed Catalonia’s decision to the region’s hope to secede from the rest of the country.