Trump has no chance of winning the Catholic vote
THEOLOGY, DEMOGRAPHICS, AND TRUMP’S OWN WORDS WILL DOOM THE GOP’S EFFORTS WITH CATHOLIC VOTERS IN 2016
JANE COASTON
3h ago
There are nearly 60 million Catholics of voting age in the United States, and Donald Trump wants all of them to vote Republican this fall. On September 21, Trump went so far as to hire Catholic (failed) presidential candidate Rick Santorum to lead a “heavyweight” group of advisors to appeal to the denomination.
There are two problems with that approach: Catholics generally don’t vote Republican, and even if they did, they won’t vote for Trump. Theology, demographics, and Trump’s own words will doom the GOP’s efforts with Catholic voters in 2016.
Collecting just a simple majority of Catholic voters could swing the election toward Trump, especially since the margin of victory in the past two elections has been under 11 million votes. But since 2000, Republican presidential candidates have only won over the demographic once out of the last five elections. Though many Catholics worldwide hold conservative positions on issues like abortion and birth control, the majority of American Catholics don’t. Polling shows that most U.S. Catholics support marriage equality, the use of contraception, and are even in favor of permitting access to abortion in some cases.
Now, it’s true that the more conservative Catholics could, in theory, make an ideal base for Trump. They, unlike the majority of U.S. Catholics, oppose abortion entirely — an issue that forms the basis of much of Trump’s current efforts to appeal to the denomination. Still, they find Trump’s laser-like focus on “doing business” and “winners and losers” unappealing. New polling released this week shows that Trump trails Clinton by 27 points with Catholic voters. Kaya Oakes, an instructor at the University of California, Berkeley who has written extensively on American Catholics, told MTV News that “Catholics seem to be leaning toward Clinton, probably because she leans closer to the social justice values and care for the marginalized message many Catholics heard growing up.”
http://www.mtv.com/news/2937416/trump-has-no-chance-of-winning-the-catholic-vote/
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47of74
(18,470 posts)I hope Catholic voters as a whole look at everything that Trump represents and do not vote for him this fall. By and large I hope they don't get swept in just because he makes the correct Bishop approved noises about abortion and gay marriage.
rurallib
(63,195 posts)and one thing that I still embrace whole heartedly is the Catholic teachings on social justice.
I have always found it amazing that any Catholic in America could encounter those teachings and ever vote for a Republican.
rug
(82,333 posts)
Turkey Manhatten
(10 posts)Hi Rurallib,
Interesting thread, but I was wondering how the catholic teachings of social justice differ from the protestant ones. Being an agnostic, or "squishy" as some on this website would call us, I am unfamiliar with any core difference in social justice philosophy. It seems to me ANYBODY with a core concept of social justice, whether they be catholic, protestant or Scientologist should stay away from Trump.
rurallib
(63,195 posts)I don't mean to be flippant. Just never knew such a critter existed.
More than likely I would guess they are similar and there are many similar teachings for most any belief system. Basically it comes down to simply following the golden rule fleshed out a bit.
rug
(82,333 posts)My impression is that, regarding social justice, liberal Protestantism aligns fairly well with Catholicism. Sexuality issues excepted.
Submariner
(12,665 posts)because according to Sister Perpetual Agony, all non-Catholics were going to burn in the flames of hell for eternity anyway.
rug
(82,333 posts)Submariner
(12,665 posts)Sisters of St Joseph from 1952 to 1960, and Dominican nuns from 1961 to 1964 in the very strict Archdiocese of Boston. I was buried in catholic teachings 7 days a week for 12 years and know what I was taught.
In the catholic church I attended, a mortal sin meant eternity in hell. Being a non-catholic was considered a mortal sin in the 1950s. I have no idea what your church taught. Maybe you attended the catholic church later and the rules were changed, but in the one I attended being a non-catholic meant eternity in hell.
rug
(82,333 posts)I had Dominican nuns from 1954 to 1963 and Irish Christian Brothers from 1963 to 1971. All in the Archdiocese of New York under Francis Cardinal Spellman whom the reforms of Vatican II would have killed had he not died in 1967.
The difference is I kept listening.
Had I not, I would not have heard Brother Watkins tell his class that in order to commit a "mortal sin", one must, with full knowledge and full will, deliberately turn his back on God. He also said that was an enormously high bar and is one reason why the Church will declare saints but has never declared anyone - anyone - to be damned.
Had I not, I would not have visited the Catholic Worker House on East 3rd Street.
Had I not, I would not have known where Joseph and Daniel Berrigan were coming from, what drove them to those extraordinary actions they took.
Don't buy into this anti-Catholic bullshit that's peddled so easily. This Group is a place to discuss what the Catholic Church is, warts and all, if you're so interested.