Why Donald Trump Is Losing Catholic Voters

Traditionally, Catholics were part of FDR’s New Deal coalition, and Kennedy won 80 percent of the Catholic vote in 1960. But white Catholics later warmed to the GOP, and Republican presidential candidates have won the white Catholic vote in 8 of the last 11 elections. Trump, however, is receiving significantly less support from white Catholics than recent Republican nominees have come to count on, based on data from the Pew Research Center and the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). And there has been a significant movement of white Catholics away from Trump. In 2012, Romney won 59 percent of white Catholics’ votes, while Obama received 40 percent, according to Pew. Last month, PRRI data showed white Catholics preferring Clinton over Trump, 44 percent to 41 percent.