While Catholics have been swing voters since Richard Nixon’s second term, white Catholics are now
identifying as Republican by historic margins. According to the most recent polling from the Pew Research Center, 53 percent of white Catholics now favor the GOP, versus 39 percent who favor the Democrats—the largest point spread in the history of the Pew poll. And for the first time, white Catholics are more Republican than the voting group usually considered the ultimate Republicans: white Protestants (a designation that includes both mainline and evangelical Protestants). These are ominous signs for the Democrats, evincing a new and growing allegiance with the Republican Party that has long-term implications.
So why are white Catholics abandoning the Democratic Party? There are some long-term trends at play.
Interesting piece. Some might even call it hopeful.
Read the whole thing.