Posting on the Catholic New Service Blog, Mark Pattison writes about Obama's strength among Catholic voters:
President-elect Barack Obama won 13 of the nation’s 15 most populous states in the Nov. 4 election. That placed California, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Massachusetts and Indiana in the Obama column, while John McCain captured only Texas and Georgia on that list.
But how did Obama do relative to McCain in “Catholic” states? Based on figures from the Official Catholic Directory, he did just as strongly.
There are two numerical measures that can be looked at: Catholic population within a state and the percentage of Catholics in a state’s total population.
Based on Catholic population, Obama won in 12 of the 15 most populous Catholic states. McCain took Texas (third most populous), Louisiana (13th) and Arizona (15th), but Obama captured California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Minnesota.
By the other measure, percentage of the population that is Catholic — which includes smaller states — Out of the top 15 of those states, Obama swept 11: Rhode Island (the nation’s only Catholic-majority state at 59.5 percent), Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Nevada, Illinois, Delaware, Wisconsin, California, New Mexico and New Hampshire. McCain took Louisana (12th on that list) and Texas (13th).
McCain won nine of the 10 states with the lowest percentage of Catholics in the population. From the lowest number of Catholics to the highest, those are: Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Carolina, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Alaska and Utah. In Catholic population those states range from 2.3 percent to 8.7 percent. North Carolina, which Obama took, is 4 percent Catholic.
By the same token, McCain also won the 13 states that have the fewest Catholics: Wyoming, Alaska, West Virgnia, Montana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Dakota, Alabama, South Dakota, Idaho, Oklahoma and South Carolina. The District of Columbia (not a state, as its residents will readily remind you) has a Catholic population estimated at 100,000 by the Archdiocese of Washington — placing it between West Virginia and Montana, and with three electoral votes — was in Obama’s camp.
Looks like Catholics are more concerned with the economy, charisma and a "promise of change" than voting on moral issues / issues that their religion teaches.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to believe that so many Catholics have become so hard-hearted so as to deny or minimize the claims the "poorest of the poor" -- defeneseless children in the womb -- have on society, morally, physically ad spiritually. Let us follow the newly inspired bishops and join our voices to theirs to "choose life."
ReplyDeleteThe American bishops are not "newly inspired." They are continuing to preach the gospel of life as they have for decades. It would be difficult to name another group who have spoken so consistently for respect for life from "the moment of conception to natural death."
ReplyDelete