Jesuit On That Pesky Abortion Thing!

According to the Pew analysis, 54% of Catholics voted for Obama, compared with 45% who voted for Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). The data show a reversal from the 2004 election, when President Bush received 52% of the Catholic vote and Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) received 47%. Obama received two-thirds of Hispanic Catholic votes but received fewer votes than McCain from white Catholics (47% to 52%). Obama also fared better than Kerry among Protestants and made large gains among religiously unaffiliated voters.

The Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit affiliated with the Woodstock Theological Center, said the economy was the biggest issue for Catholic voters, adding, "Few said that abortion was the most important issue." Reese also said that Vice President-elect Joe Biden's Catholic faith "helped the top of the ticket with Catholics much more" than Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin (Alaska), an evangelical.

Steve Krueger, national director of the Boston-based Catholic Democrats, said, "Six months ago the pundits were predicting that [Obama] would not do well with Catholic voters," adding that the fact that Obama and Biden "reversed a trend, since 1996, of white ethnic Catholics defecting to the Republican party" is "of historic significance" (Duin, Washington Times, 11/7).
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