Tuesday, November 13, 2012

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE CATHOLIC VOTE

November 9, 2012, www.catholicleague.org

Bill Donohue comments on the Catholic vote:

Catholics are a quarter of the electorate, and they voted for Obama over Romney by the same margin as the total electorate, 50%-48%. Contrary to what many pundits are saying, this suggests that the bishops’ campaign for religious liberty, waged against the Health and Human Services mandate, actually paid off: Obama got 54% of the Catholic vote in 2008 to McCain’s 45%.

Some commentators talk about the Catholic vote as if it were monolithic, and others say it doesn’t exist. It would be more accurate to say there are four Catholic votes: practicing and non-practicing; white and Latino.

Among practicing Catholics, Obama received 42% to Romney’s 57%; among non-practicing Catholics, Obama picked up 56% while Romney got 42%.

White Catholics gave Obama 40% of their votes while Romney earned 59%; Latino Catholics gave Obama 71% of their votes while Romney earned 27%.

From previous survey research published by the Pew Forum, we know that practicing Latino Catholics are less likely to support the Democrats than are non-practicing Latinos.

What this shows is that the more practicing a Catholic is, of any ethnic background, the less likely he is to support the more secular of the candidates.

Finally, there is a serious question whether non-practicing Catholics should be considered Catholic. By way of analogy, if someone tells a pollster that he is a vegetarian, but has long since abandoned a veggie-only diet, would it make empirical sense to count him as a vegetarian? Self-identity is an interesting psychological concept, but it is not necessarily an accurate reflection of a person’s biography.

1 comment:

  1. 'New Realignment':
    Being Catholic is a psychological concept within the electorate and polling-agreed. Nevertheless, in the pews, that dichotomy is also real and present. There is a great divide and difference in actual voting patterns between the social justice Catholics and the genuine prolife Catholics--all of these being pew sitters. etc,etc, ad nausem...

    The Catholic Church needs a concrete New Evangelization and a 'New Realignment'.

    RB2

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