Organized Catholics were in Maryland in the 1640’s and holding worship services and had settlements in Florida in the 1500’s. Many were here even before that. Catholics are very much interwoven into the fabric that is early North America. I have Catholic relatives that came from France, to Canada, to northern NY in the 1700’s. In my line they intermarried with German Lutherans, and English Baptists that arrived in the 1600’s. I grew up Catholic and we are all very conservative and traditional. Don’t believe all the anti-Catholic propaganda, it just pulls Christians farther apart, which is what certain groups want.
As did I. I started out "died in the wool". But I "fell away" relatively early. I remember overhearing a conversation between my (divorced) mother and the parish priest over whether a thirteen-year-old should be calling the shots on the family religion (I was 13 at the time and a persuasive little bastard, evidently). LOL!
There has to be a reason why the non-English-speaking parts of the Western Hemisphere have been so notably less successful than the portion within the Anglosphere. However, it is a fact that many American conservatives adhere to the religion. So, Catholisicm is not the whole story. But the association is nevertheless strong.