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A survey has reported the Catholic vote was split almost evenly between Trump and Biden in the 2020 US Election.
According to the survey conducted by AP, of the Catholics who voted, 50% supported Trump, while 49% supported Biden.
Ahead of the election, the rival campaigns targeted Catholics with ardent appeals to vote based on their faith.
Trump supporters said faithful Catholics should not vote for Biden because he supported abortion rights. Biden backers said Trump is too divisive and has failed to elevate social justice issues that are part of Catholic teaching.
Michael Wear, a past faith adviser to former President Barack Obama, said he saw signs that the Biden campaign’s focused outreach to religious had paid off. Biden would be just the second Catholic president after John F. Kennedy.
Michael New is an abortion opponent who teaches social research at the Catholic University of America. He said Trump’s opposition to abortion likely attracted some Catholic voters even if they disagreed with him on other issues.
This year, Catholic voters accounted for 22% of the electorate, and there was a sharp rift within their ranks by race and ethnicity.
Among white Catholics, 57% backed Trump, and 42% backed Biden, according to AP VoteCast. In 2016, Trump won 64% of white Catholics, and Clinton won 31%, according to Pew Research Center voter analysis.
Among Hispanic Catholics, VoteCast shows 67% backed Biden, and 32% backed Trump.
“The election results show that the Catholic Church is as divided as our nation, but the real divide is race and ethnicity, not theology,” said David Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture.
President Donald Trump won support from nearly 80% white evangelical Christian voters in his race for reelection.
Among voters with no religious affiliation, Biden took 72% while Trump took 26%. Other religious voting blocs going for Biden, in line with their previous preference for Democrats.
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