As Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump vie for several key demographics, the Catholic vote appears to be leaning toward the former president.
A survey from the National Catholic Reporter found that in most of the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Trump leads Harris among Catholic voters, 50% to 45%. In 2020, Trump narrowly edged out President Joe Biden, who is Catholic, for the Catholic vote nationwide, 50% to 49%, according to the Pew Research Center.
Among the states surveyed, Trump leads in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin for Catholic voters, while Harris leads in Nevada and Pennsylvania. The widest lead is Trump’s advantage in Wisconsin, 57%-39%, while the narrowest margins are Trump’s 47%-46% North Carolina lead and Harris’s 49%-48% Pennsylvania lead.
In Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nevada, Catholics make up roughly a quarter of adults, while in Arizona and Michigan, nearly a fifth of adults are Catholic, according to Pew. In North Carolina and Georgia, only 9% of adults are Catholic. The sizable group has become a key demographic that both campaigns have attempted to woo, with each launching its own groups specifically targeting the voters.
When divided by racial groups, Trump has a firm lead over Harris, with 56%-40% with white Catholics, while Harris holds a 67%-28% lead over Trump with Hispanic Catholics.
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Pope Francis said last month he does not know which of the two candidates, Trump or Harris, is the “lesser of two evils,” claiming that “both are against life” and pointing to Trump’s immigration policies and Harris’s abortion policy.
Both candidates identify themselves as Christians, but neither claims to be Catholic. Trump said in 2020 that he is nondenominational after identifying himself as Presbyterian for several decades, while Harris has said she is Baptist.
