Right, in his reelection Bush won 52% of the Catholic vote, but not in 2000, and Bush won 56% of the Protestant Hispanic vote in that 2004 reelection race.
In the 2008 election you break out the White only vote, which doesn’t change the point, Catholics voted for Obama.
If you break it down between orthodox, church-going Catholics and CINOs, then the Republicans do much better among the Mass-attending Catholics.
Historically, the Catholic Church in America had a LOT of working-class, members from ethnic minorities, who were discriminated against by the WASP establishment: Irish, Italian, Polish, and so forth. Almost all of them were Democrats, which was the party of the workers.
That started to shift when the Democrats went overboard for abortion, gay rights, etc. But it takes a while for such changes to happen. Those Catholics who are loyal to the Church and attend Mass are far more likely to be influenced by such considerations as the right to life.
The shift over from Democrat to REpublican was steady for several decades. Now it seems to have paused. But support for the right to life has been growing among young people and likely will continue to grow.
The results are from PEW, for what that’s worth.
You broke out the Hispanic vote, so I broke out the white vote.
Without Hispanic Catholics the left would be sucking air would be another way to interpet the results.
I do think the Catholic layity need to make their positions known to the clergy. I agree it can’t be ignored.