Reaching Catholics

[cbayer]

http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/reaching-catholics/

May 18, 2012, 12:17 AM
Reaching Catholics
By JIM ARKEDIS
In 2012, once again, Catholics should be the swing voters of a presidential race. They’re one of the country’s most divided and complex voting blocs, too. One third of Catholics are staunch social conservatives who view abortion as a litmus test when choosing a candidate, but Gallup polling finds the rest of Catholics slightly to the left of the country on most “values” issues.

Recent events have highlighted these divisions. After Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a Catholic, said he was “entirely comfortable” with same-sex marriage in early May, President Obama reportedly accelerated his announcement endorsing it. Church leaders condemned Obama, while 68 percent of Catholics — five points higher than the country as a whole — support legal gay and lesbian relationships, and 51 percent support same-sex marriage.

In February, the Obama administration thought it had come to an understanding with the United States Council of Catholic Bishops over a federal mandate compelling Catholic institutions to pay for health care plans that cover birth control. But in the end the bishops rejected an “unjust and unlawful” deal, which Mitt Romney called an “attack on religious tolerance.” Fifty-eight percent of Catholics — including 62 percent of Catholic women — sided with the Obama administration, three points more than the rest of country.

Then there is the Hispanic vote. At 50 million, Hispanics are the fastest growing bloc in the country, solidly Catholic, and focused on the politics of immigration. In 2001, Karl Rove said that increasing the Republican share of the Hispanic vote was his mission, but the 2012 Republican Party doesn’t seem to be paying attention to that line of thinking. Mitt Romney promised to veto the Dream Act, a proposed law that would provide a pathway to legal status for children of illegal immigrants, provided they serve in the military or attend college.


more at link

[demosincebirth]

1. Catholics aren't as conservative a most think. Many think the contraception issue is mute point.

And the abortion issue is a personel issue meaning they are against abortion but believe it's the womens right to choose. Many here lump all Catholics with the conservatives and paint with a wide brush.

[cbayer]

2. Agree. This article gives a nice synopsis of where catholics stand on these issues.

To lump them in with the christian right is a mistake.

[longship]

3. That's a sticky wicket

Obviously it won't happen from the pulpit, but that may end up being a null effect if we are to believe the numbers in the article. It may even hurt the Catholic hierarchy if they are seen by a majority of the flock to be out of touch.

One important recent event is undoubtedly the Pope (?) going after the sisters, who some in the media have portrayed as being most loved. It is properly being termed a witch hunt. This can't work out well for the hard liners.

And all the other hard line pronouncements aren't doing them any better. They are coming down as being totally out of touch with their flock. What in the Sam Hell are they thinking?

We'll have to see what happens, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a significant backlash to this. Again, if the polling is as stated.

[cbayer]

4. There is some evidence that the attack on american nuns is coming from

americans in the vatican. That's even worse, in terms of being out of touch and alienating their members.

[longship]

5. Thx. Agree w/ your conclusions. nt

.

[daaron]

6. Having lived in the southwest for many years -->

I don't think we should take the Catholic Hispanic voting block for granted. They are much closer to CCB on social issues than they are liberal Catholics back east.

[cbayer]

7. What is CCB?

[daaron]

8. Council of Catholic Bishops. nt

[cbayer]

9. Ah, thank you. Recent Gallup poll shows significant Obama support from hispanic catholics.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/154430/Catholics-Presidential-Pick-Differs-Ethnicity-Religiosity.aspx

[daaron]

10. True, but that's just as much due to -->

Republican anti-immigration. When Republicans were more moderate on immigration, they won significant portions of the Hispanic vote.

[cbayer]

11. It appears that you are correct when it comes to abortion, but not so when it

comes to GLBT civil rights.

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/04/04/v-politics-values-and-religion/

Not sure about other social issues, but, while clearly not a monolith, they are solidly democratic at this point.

[daaron]

12. I just question the solidly, not the 'democratic at this point'.

I think what I was really getting at, in the first place, is that even 'liberal Catholic' is a mercurial group of voters, along the lines of independents, who may go either way depending on local conditions and cultural differences in the specific sort of Catholicism we're talking about.

[cbayer]

13. The survey data I have looked at (some of which I linked to) fully supports your position.

That's why I thought this article was worth the read. Being mercurial, it seems important to identify and *market* the causes which they find important.

Catholics specifically, religious people in general and women are going to be big factors in this years election. Much as I would like to think we have it in the bag, I know that we don't.

Thanks for the conversation.

[daaron]

14. Agreed. nt

[braddy]

15. Catholics are a very dependable vote for us,

but this year will be close, I think it will be very close to a 50/50 split.

[rug]

16. Interesting read.

I don't think that, for the most part, the Catholic vote is a bloc that is particularly distinct from the electorate as a whole. This is a point he brings up, "At nearly 20 percent of the population, Catholics have roughly mirrored the popular vote in the last eight elections."

Other than the third or so of Catholics who are also hardcore conservatives, I think he's right that overall Catholics are "slightly to the left of the country on most 'values' issues" other than abortion. I believe the polls regarding contraception and marriage equality show no appreciable difference between Catholic and nonCatholic voters.

What I think he fails to emphasize is the distinction between Catholic doctrine and political policy.

It is as foolish to contend that a private catechism must be ripped up to ensure choice in a civil society as it is to contend that a private catechism should be the basis for a civil society.

The Administration did show itself to be somehat tone deaf in the HHS rule announcement. The manner in which it was made allowed conservatives to argue that the new rule would force the Catholic Church (and others) to materially cooperate in providing contraception and abortifacients, which is squarely against its doctrine.

It is unrealistic to expect the Catholic Church to change its long-standing doctrine to accommodate an HHS regulation. And I'm certain that was not the intent of the rule.

Were it more attuned to the particular issues, the Administration is intelligent enough to have both framed the issue as an equal access to reproductive heath issue (which most Catholics do not object to) as well as to have presented a means for Catholic institutions to implement it without violating its principles on cooperation with what it considers a moral evil. (A supplemental insurance pool comes to mind.)

Instead, we were entertained with the spectacle of righteousness contests for a few weeks.

There is no need for Catholic doctrine to be particularly respected, let alone followed, in the public arena. But it should be understood accurately. Especially in an election year.

[cbayer]

17. Do you think HHS was purposeful in the way it presented the new rule, or were

they thoughtless, or what?

[rug]

18. I think they just dropped the ball on presenting it.

Especially since they were quick to offer a compromise.

It's probably a combination of overconfidence and underestimating the nature of doctrine in religion. It's really sui generis and can't be compared to public policy which is easily bends to compromise.

Still, politically, they handled the fall-out well.