Apr 03 2009
Relocated: How McCain could woo the Catholic Vote
Thursday, July 3, 2008
How McCain could woo the Catholic Vote
Alright. I think this election is going to be close, and I think that in any close election, there’s one element that the candidates should always look at more than they do, and that’s the Catholic element. Even though I don’t see them called swing voters a lot, here’s why I think they should be.
In 2004, Catholics were told by the vatican that it would be sinful to vote for John Kerry because of his pro choice views. They still voted for John Kerry. Catholics, and in particular large, concentrated Catholic populations, tend to be: 1) lower-middle class, 2) from a recent (within the last 100 years or so) surge of immigration, and 3) very culturally connected to their ethnic community.
Coming from Chicago, I’ll give you the most common examples I can think of: Italian Catholics, Irish Catholics, Polish Catholics, and Latino Catholics (which, I would argue, could be broken down into each specific nationality).
Now, because of those three factors, and the mere fact of being Catholic, I would say that the biggest issues are always going to be: economy, immigration, inernational relations, and abortion and gay rights. I think that 2004, when Catholics voted for John Kerry anyway, shows that abortion and gay rights rank relatively low on those priorities.
I think that McCain is in the best position of any Republican in recent years to recapture the urban Catholic vote. Let’s go issue by issue. The economy: I think that the Dems will always get the Catholics on this particular issue. Urban populations tend to vote Democratic for this exact reason.
International relations: I think that McCain and Obama are pretty equal in this sense. The downside to McCain is that he supports the war, which irritated a lot of other countries. Urban Catholics, who are in touch with their families in other countries, are unlikely to view this well. The whole concept of war also is not too cozy with a religious population. On the other hand, Obama has no foreign affairs experience. McCain has a lot of experience, and not all of it is warmongering. In addition, he is from a border state, which helps him out.
Immigration: I think this is the turning point for McCain. I think that he can pull urban Catholic voters over using this issue. Not just Latinos, but also Polish, Irish and Italian Catholics view this country as a melting pot. They hear stories of when Uncle Tony came over, and they see pictures of their newly arrived ancestors at Ellis Island. McCain has a plan which will satisfy both the more Americanized European Catholics, who wonder why it’s taking other ethnicities so long to fit in here, and the newer arrivals, especially Latin Catholics. He wants to tighten the border, but he also wants to make sure that people who want to (or already have) come here to work and improve their lot are welcome.
Gay rights and abortion: The plus, John McCain stands on the Catholic side of both of these issues. The minus, in attempting to woo middle of the road voters, McCain keeps quiet about these things.
My suggestion: McCain should be a little more open about being socially conservative, especially in specific markets. While it may turn some of us off, it will reemphasize to the Catholic voters that McCain is on their side of moral issues. I think the key is to target these ads to urban ethnic enclaves. Run them in Chicago, New York, Boston, L.A., Las Vegas. Perhaps even run them in Spanish. Put them not only in major newspapers, but smaller ones which target ethnic neighborhoods. By making immigration and social issues a huge deal this election, McCain could win back Catholics, who, I believe are usually torn between voting with their religion and voting with their cultures. By showing that he can be a candidate not just for the Church, but for every day Italian, Polish, Irish, Mexican and Puerto Rican-Americans, McCain can end that conflict.
Posted by Zach at 12:22 PM
Labels: 08, catholic, electability, elections, John McCain
2 comments:
Michael LaPenna said…
Being a practicing Catholic, I’d say you’re right on all issue, for me the Abortion needs a broader social movement that just needs to sweep through. To me, Societal change only happens when people realize something is needed to be done on a broad scale. Abortion is a 50/50 game now. Until the social world that causes abortion is quelled then no politician can do a thing in my opinion.
Btw, In my Comparative scripture piece, I was only comparing to make the points you already did. Most people don’t know how similar the two faiths are. I would argue though that they’re morality identical if it were not for differences in “perspective” on Jesus…. Remember Jesus’ never actually said he was God flat out. However Jesus’ male DNA had to come from somewhere if he had no biological father.
July 23, 2008 3:44 PM
Anonymous said…
However Jesus’ male DNA had to come from somewhere if he had no biological father.
Did you have a look at the recent book of Mark Gibb “the Virgin and the Priest” - the making of the messiah-, it gives some pretty well documented points to identify jesus’s biological genitor as to be Zacharia which make john and jesus not just cousins but step brothers
October 3, 2008 8:19 AM
