Catholic Appeal

[Badger]

Not much. To the extent there is a "Catholic Votee"--i.e. a vote based primarily on one's Catholicism--such votes are fairly locked in as they have been for a couple decades: a large majorithy voting Republican on social issues, a small minority in the Francis mold whose devotion to social justice overcame other issues to vote Deomocrat.

Most Catholic voters are occassional once a week or less (usually less) voters, whose rligion plays a secondary effect on their votes if anything.

[Badger]

I concur with what others have said.

However, I think that part of why Trump over-performed with Roman Catholics in the primaries relative to Protestants is that his message that the system is broken (namely, that it disregards considerations of merit) resonated with these voters in particular. This is because most American Catholics are descended from populations (Irish, Italians, Poles, German Catholics) that really had to work hard in order to be accepted as legitimate Americans. That so many people today—illegals, people who refuse to learn or speak English, and so on—can violate the social contract that their ancestors had labored so hard to live up to, and without any great repercussions, grates on these voters.

Or that they aren't white. My dad's family spoke Italian at home until they moved to Tampa in the 60s. They immigrated in the 1880s.

Or that a) immigration was at one point VASTLY easier than it is today. Not much more than get to Ellis Island or the like and pass a TB test; and b) many of the later "good" European immigrants were also illegals. The anti-Italian slur "Wop" is short for "without papers".

So yeah, iratemoderate, there are a lot of 4th generation descendants of immigrants who supported Trump's mass deportation policies, but wouldn't be here today if such policies were in effect for their ancestors.

The popular image of the quick to assimilate and legal "unlike today" European immigrant is frankly mostly a myth.

[Badger]

I concur with what others have said.

However, I think that part of why Trump over-performed with Roman Catholics in the primaries relative to Protestants is that his message that the system is broken (namely, that it disregards considerations of merit) resonated with these voters in particular. This is because most American Catholics are descended from populations (Irish, Italians, Poles, German Catholics) that really had to work hard in order to be accepted as legitimate Americans. That so many people today—illegals, people who refuse to learn or speak English, and so on—can violate the social contract that their ancestors had labored so hard to live up to, and without any great repercussions, grates on these voters.

I agree with this analysis.  It's very insightful.

When I was young and a Democratic Party activist, just about all priests and nuns were registered Democrats in Suffolk County, NY, where I grew up, even though the county was pretty Republican at the time.  At that time, there were many pro-life liberal Democrats.  Back then, the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, liberal to the core, were pretty reliable pro-lifers, even as they were liberal on other issues.  This type of legislative Northern Democrat has disappeared; pro-choice is pretty much a litmus test as to whether you are an acceptable Democrat or not today.  This has coincided with the Catholic clergy progressively registering and voting Republican.  They view themselves as having no stake in the Democratic Party AS CATHOLICS.  The Democrats can win the votes of lapsed Catholics and those who occasionally attend Mass, but I would suspect that regular Mass attenders are fairly reliably Republican nowadays.  

I would suggest you compare it to my post above. I have no doubt that many 4th+ generation descendants of European immigrants like to believe their ancestors are more willing to jump through llegal hoops and culturally assimilate than modern-day hispanic immigrants, but as noted that's largely a myth.

Yes, abortion is about as much a litmus test to Democrats as it is to Republicans, no doubt. And yes, the shrinking numbers of Catholic clergy are increasingly Republican, but I know some for whom that's not the case, as it is for many Catholics who are hardly lapsed but believe the Sermon on the Mount is more crucial to God than a line from Leviticus, which also prohibits tattoos and shellfish.