This
editorial was published on SCHotline.com in January 2005.
Recently, much
has been made about a supposed shift of Catholic voters away from
the Democratic Party, including Senator John Kerry, their 2004
Presidential candidate. However, a declaration any sort of
political “victory” by GOP leaders would be highly premature.
Catholic voters
are far from monolithic in their political support. In 2000, they
gave a slight majority of their votes to Al Gore. Four years
later, a modest shift of Catholic voters helped President Bush
build narrow, but nonetheless winning margins in a number of key
states in 2004. While many Catholics voters supported Bush, or at
least voted for him in opposition to Kerry’s positions, it is
important to note that nearly half of Catholic voters remained in
the Democratic column, in spite of Kerry’s stands on issues.
Simply being in
agreement on several key issues is not enough. While the GOP
often supports Catholic positions related to pro-life and family
issues, it often pays little attention, or is opposed to, Church
positions on other issues, such as international human rights, the
death penalty, and social issues. It is also important to note
long-standing tensions between Catholics and conservative and
evangelical Protestant Christians, longtime key partners of the
GOP coalition.
If the GOP wishes
to truly “win the Catholic vote”, it must do more to truly earn
that support. They will need to re-evaluate their stands on some
issues, become more active on issues that are important to
Catholics, and a greater ability to agree to disagree on other
issues. Even if they retain their positions on these issues, many
in the GOP will have to learn to be more accepting and tolerant of
divergent opinions on these issues within their party. It will
also require evangelical Protestants in the GOP to develop a
greater tolerance and respect for Catholics within their party.
Otherwise, Catholic voters will likely shift back to the
Democratic Party, endangering the GOP’s hold over the White House,
as well as the slim congressional majorities they have struggled
to build up over the last decade.
While President
Bush was the first Presidential candidate to win a majority of the
popular vote for the since 1988, Catholic voters, like our
nation’s electorate as a whole, remain closely divided. Until
Republicans (or Democrats) are willing to do a better job of
listening to, and addressing, a broad range of issues of concern
to Catholics, this is unlikely to change.
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