Trump leading Harris among Catholic voters in battleground states: poll
Former President Donald Trump is leading Vice President Kamala Harris among Catholic voters in crucial swing states, according to the findings of a recent poll.
A new poll conducted by the National Catholic Reporter released Wednesday found that, among Catholic voters in seven “battleground states,” which were identified as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Trump held a lead.
The data was drawn from an online research study conducted by Mercury Analytics from Oct. 3-8 of 1,172 Catholic voters in seven swing states, with an overall margin of error of +/- 2.86% with a 95% confidence level.
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When asked by NCR who they would vote for if the election were held today, 50% of respondents said they would “probably” or “definitely” vote for Trump, while 45% said they would “probably” or “definitely” vote for Harris.
The remainder either responded that they were “not sure” who they would be voting for or that they were “voting for someone else.”
Trump’s lead increased to 16% when focused on white Catholic respondents, while Harris had commanding leads among Hispanic Catholic respondents (67%) and black Catholic respondents (77%).
Swing state Catholic voters who were aged 18-29 slightly preferred Harris (47%) over Trump (46%), while voters aged 50-64 had considerably stronger support for Trump (54%) over Harris (43%).
In an analysis published Monday, NCR wrote that Catholic voters in swing states “were more likely to say they support their preferred candidate for reasons that go against [Catholic] church teaching, with Trump supporters favoring his anti-[illegal] immigration policies and Harris voters backing her views on reproductive rights,” otherwise known as abortion.
“In the battleground states, Catholic populations are sizable and are seen as so important to the Trump and Harris campaigns that both have launched efforts to woo the so-called Catholic vote. In Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, for example, approximately one-quarter of adults identify as Catholic,” NCR added.
“The Republican nominee also leads overall among Catholic voters in five of the seven individual states, although some are within the margin of error. The former president does have larger leads in Wisconsin, where he is up by 18 percentage points, and in Michigan, where he leads by 12 points among Catholic voters.”
The NCR report also found that 75% of respondents listed the economy as one of their “most important” issues this election, followed by 60% listing the border and immigration, 53% listing healthcare, 52% listing taxes, and 46% listing affordable housing.
The Pew Research Center recently released a report that found 52% of Catholics planned to vote for Trump, while 47% planned to vote for Harris. The same study found that 61% of Protestants backed Trump while 37% of Protestants backed Harris.
Last month, Harris garnered controversy when she announced that she was not going to attend the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, a Catholic charitable dinner event that presidential candidates from both parties have traditionally attended for decades.
