In the United States, opinion polls consistently suggest that to identify as Catholic is not a reliable predictor of one’s favoured political candidates, nor of positions on public policy and social issues. Opinions of Catholics tend to skew across the spectrum of concerns similarly to the general population. For example, a 2024 poll by the Pew Research Center asked Catholics and non-Catholics about their positions on abortion. When asked whether abortion “should be legal in all or most cases”, 62 per cent of all US adults answered affirmatively, compared with 61 per cent of Catholics. These positions on abortion tend to align with the political affiliation of Catholic voters. In the 2020 presidential election, among all voters the split between the two parties was 51 per cent for the Democrat ticket and 47 per cent for the Republican candidate. Among Catholics, the split was 50 per cent to 49 per cent. These data suggest that moral and political decisions are based less upon Catholic teaching and more upon partisan loyalty.
2:05 PM
Confessional Catholics and US public life: Francis X Maier has a journalist’s head and a churchman’s heart
in the united states, opinion polls consistently suggest that to identify as catholic is not a reliable predictor of one’s favoured politica...
Ken Craycraft

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