Catholics and their priorities (abortion not high up on the list)

[Polak]

A poll conducted for EWTN by RealClear Opinion Research found economy/jobs and healthcare were the highest priorities for US Catholics ahead of the election, while abortion appears to the bottom of the list.

https://www.ewtnnews.com/poll-3.asp?utm_campaign=NCR%202019&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=95794668&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--EVmjBNbLJRA7LLgPugZ1joh0W3hpTc43mgR0wIKfPV0VTE3eo2Lkggh1l8UAH6-pTvWMSXLy0SUCM3rL3WPnntppjTQ&utm_content=95794668&utm_source=hs_email

There are a lot of different stats in there so feel free to check it out yourselves, but something I personally found quite disturbing was that while about 3/4 supported substantial restrictions on abortions, 22% were more likely to vote for a candidate who supported abortion and 1/3 said it made no difference to them, i.e. abortion isn’t a factor in their decision making.

the survey found that 76% of Catholics support substantial restrictions on abortion. This includes 82% of Catholics who go to Mass weekly. Three in 10 Catholics also said they were less likely to support a candidate who favored abortion, while 22% said they were more likely to do so, and a third (33%) said it made no difference. Among those who go to Mass at least weekly, a plurality (43%) said they were less likely to support such a candidate, while about half that number (23%) said they were more likely to do so and 22% said it made no difference.

Only about 1/3 of the Catholics who took part in the survey mass attend mass at least once per week (it’s an obligation to do so) although that stat is confusing because in the same paragraph it also says 72% attend on a weekly basis or more.

In other statistics, 1/3 of Catholic support defunding the police (I find that shocking) and almost 1/3 were not bothered that they could not attend mass during the pandemic (probably those who don’t attend anyway). It’s obvious we had a lot of lukewarm Catholics taking the questionnaire. Hence, no surprise that the article also states

when it comes to foundational Church teaching, the active or devout Catholics are increasingly at odds with their fellow Catholics, to the point that there are virtually two Catholic communities in the country.

This appears to be the third poll conducted since November 2019. I haven’t seen the previous two, so don’t know what the questions were in those and whether they are asking the same questions every few months to see if opinions among Catholics change. I assume at least some of the questions in this poll were different as they were directly related to recent events.

 

[Polak]

No interest in this poll? Or has it already been discussed elsewhere?

While the fact that so many Catholics sadly have no issue with abortion is already well known, I was keen to hear what some of you thought about 1/3 of Catholics believing the police should be defunded. This was something I didn’t expect. Are there any Catholics here who agree with that?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Are we supposed to be surprised that most US people including Catholics choose a Presidential candidate based on their perception of his effect on the domestic economy for themselves, and that most US people including US Catholics are concerned about being able to get affordable healthcare? These are things that a President has a very large amount of control and influence over, and they directly affect peoples’ day-to-day well-being. If I were out of work or concerned about keeping my business running, I would be highly likely to select a candidate who I thought would be most likely to get me back to work or to help my business. If I were short on money and needed health care (I have friends who have hourly wage jobs and chronic illnesses, or spouses with chronic illnesses, and this is a huge concern for them), I would be most concerned with being able to continue to get decent affordable care for me or my spouse or child.

My parents were good Catholics who went to Mass and prayed the daily Rosary and they primarily picked candidates based on which one was going to best help the domestic economy and the working man. My father was a labor analyst and would not support anyone whose domestic economic policies he thought were bad for the country.

This isn’t news.

 

[KMC]

I think this was quite telling:

Interestingly, the frequency of Mass attendance correlates closely with which major candidate a Catholic supports. Catholics who attend Mass daily support Trump by 16 percentage points (58% to 42%). Catholics who attend Mass more than once a week supported Trump by 24 percentage points (61% to 37%). By contrast, Catholics who attend Mass less than once a year support Biden by a margin of 59% to 36%, and those who never attend Mass support Biden by a margin of 69% to 25%.

 

[Polak]

Are we supposed to be surprised that most US people including Catholics choose a Presidential candidate based on their perception of his effect on the domestic economy for themselves, and that most US people including US Catholics are concerned about being able to get affordable healthcare?

Not necessarily but I would expect you to be surprised by the fact that one third of Catholics think it’s a good idea to defund the police.

 

[stpurl]

Part of the reason is probably that after the last 60 or so years (two generations) where Catholics have become ‘assimilated’ to the secular i.e. Protestant as well as other religious/not religious country which happens to be the United States of America, they have become to all intents and purposes something else ‘first’ and Catholicism ‘next’ or even ‘last’.

They are thus Americans first, possibly Democrat next, possibly ‘ethnic-heritage’ Americans next, possibly ‘young, middle, older age’ next, possibly ‘gender or sex’ next, almost assuredly ‘job title high on the list, and perhaps then or even further down, “Catholic’ and that “Catholic” is very likely ‘cultural’, baptised, maybe confirmed/first communion, but more often than not otherwise not practicing.

Is it any wonder then that such Catholics are more likely to follow the directive of some ‘higher identification’ on their list?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

The opinion of a person about the police depends on where one lives and what the police are like there. In the town where I’m writing this from, things are relatively peaceful, the police are generally decent, the local people support the police for the most part, a lot of the cops are Catholic, and they support the Catholic Church in many ways (for example by guarding streets when we have Living Stations or Eucharistic processions, and by interacting with the Catholic elementary school kids). I guarantee you that very few Catholics in this town are in a rush to defund the local police. Ask the Catholics in a town with a corrupt police department and they’ll say differently.

Also, some Catholics may want to “defund the police” in hopes of channeling those funds to social service agencies that could, in that Catholic’s opinion, deal better than the police with people having issues with mental health, substance abuse, etc. While I might not agree with those Catholics, it’s a reasonable view for them to hold.

 

[ProVobis]

It’s become a hot issue, that’s why. Most Americans are okay with the status quo on everything else.

 

[Dr_Meinheimer]

Speaks volumes, no?