Catholic Votes Key To Obama Victory, Pew Analysis Shows

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 11 Nov 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Large numbers of Roman Catholic votes strongly contributed to the victory of President-elect Barack Obama, according to an analysis of exit poll surveys conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the Washington Times reports. The support from Catholics came despite a "blizzard of statements" from 89 bishops warning Catholics against voting for a candidate who supports abortion rights, the Times reports. According to the Pew analysis, 54% of Catholics voted for Obama, compared with 45% who voted for Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). The data show a reversal from the 2004 election, when President Bush received 52% of the Catholic vote and Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) received 47%. Obama received two-thirds of Hispanic Catholic votes but received fewer votes than McCain from white Catholics (47% to 52%). Obama also fared better than Kerry among Protestants and made large gains among religiously unaffiliated voters.

The Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit affiliated with the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, said the economy was the biggest issue for Catholic voters, adding, "Few said that abortion was the most important issue." Reese also said that Vice President-elect Joe Biden's Catholic faith "helped the top of the ticket with Catholics much more" than Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin (Alaska), an evangelical. Steve Krueger, national director of the Boston-based Catholic Democrats, said, "Six months ago the pundits were predicting that [Obama] would not do well with Catholic voters," adding that the fact that Obama and Biden "reversed a trend, since 1996, of white ethnic Catholics defecting to the Republican party" is "of historic significance" (Duin, Washington Times, 11/7).

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