Trump losing support of Catholics who helped seal his 2016 victory: Report
US President Donald Trump appears to be losing the support of Catholic Americans, a pivotal voting bloc that helped clinch the president’s victory in 2016, according to a report.
In the 2016 presidential race, "Catholic Americans helped seal Donald Trump’s come-from-behind victory with a flood of support in the industrial Midwest," POLITICO said on Friday.
The article pointed out, however, that recent "polls have shown Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with a steady lead among Catholic voters."
Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, conceded that that the Catholic vote was "essential" to Trump's reelection.
“There’s no doubt we have to win the Catholic vote. It is essential to our reelection,” Short told the publication on Friday.
Biden “probably has more appeal” among Catholic voters than Hillary Clinton had as the Democratic nominee in 2016, Short acknowledged.
A poll by EWTN and RealClearPolitics earlier this month indicated that most Catholic Americans were not voting for Trump in this election cycle.
A separate poll by Marquette Law School released last week had similar findings.
In Wisconsin, a key battleground state, 53 percent of Catholic voters disapprove of the president’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, according to the Marquette poll.
“If he loses, it’s because people who otherwise support him are just sick of it all,” said one adviser to the Trump campaign. “It’s because of voters who kind of like Trump, but ‘just can’t take this anymore.”
Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University, said Biden, a practicing Catholic himself, has put Trump at a disadvantage when it comes to this crucial voting bloc.
“Half of Biden’s advantage right now is the shift among Catholics, who are facing a push-and-pull effect. Trump has pushed them away with his gruffness and extremism, while Biden pulls them in because he’s a white Catholic himself who speaks authentically about their shared faith,” Burge said.
Presidential election expert and history professor Allan Lichtman said he was confident Biden will win the election.
The professor has used his 13-key system to forecast the winner of each race since Ronald Reagan's reelection in 1984. However, he said this year's race was a close contest.
In 2000, Lichtman said that Democrat Al Gore would win the election.
Gore won the popular vote, but lost the presidency to George W. Bush after the Supreme Court ruled in his favor when the vote was disputed.
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