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<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\nWASHINGTON<\/strong> \u2014 Ahead of the midterm elections, analysts who spoke with OSV News said polling data shows Catholic voters are reflecting broader trends, but some unique factors may contribute to their voting behavior.<\/p>\n Ryan Burge, author of the Substack newsletter \u201cGraphs about Religion\u201d<\/a> and a professor of practice at the John C. Danforth Center at Washington University in St. Louis, told OSV News, \u201cWe used to say that America looks like Catholics, and Catholics look like America on election day. They\u2019re very much like the most representative religious group.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like the Catholic vote has shifted pretty significantly toward the Democrats in the last two years, which is a very big deal because that\u2019s a whole lot of voters in places that they need to be in to win elections in these close races,\u201d Burge said.<\/p>\n A survey published Oct. 15 by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that registered voters who identified as Democrats were more enthusiastic than voters who identified as Republicans about casting a ballot. More voters said they want Democrats to win control of Congress, it found.<\/p>\n A recent Pew Research Center<\/a> survey found that among all Catholics 42% said that if the election were held today, they would vote for the Democrat in their House district, 39% said the Republican, while another 19% said they were unsure or would select another party\u2019s candidate. But it also found white Catholics and Hispanic Catholics divide sharply over which party\u2019s candidates they plan to support in the midterms.<\/p>\n Among white Catholics, 50% said they would support the Republican candidate, and 32% said the Democrat, with another 18% unsure. Among Hispanic Catholics, 59% said they would support the Democrat, 19% said the Republican candidate, and 21% said they were unsure.<\/p>\n Taken together, the polls show what analysts have described as a challenging environment for Republicans, who are seeking to maintain control of Congress amid an unpopular war with Iran and increasing consumer prices, particularly on energy.<\/p>\n Andrew Chesnut, who holds the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, told OSV News that President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cdeclining support among Catholics<\/a> reflects broader dissatisfaction with his presidency, but there are also distinctly Catholic factors at work.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnlike white evangelical Protestants, who remain Trump\u2019s most loyal religious constituency, Catholics are politically divided, with Hispanic Catholics leaning Democratic and white Catholics more inclined toward the GOP,\u201d Chesnut said.<\/p>\n Catholic social teaching on issues including \u201cimmigration, poverty, and human dignity\u201d has created \u201ctensions with some of Trump\u2019s policies, particularly among Latino Catholics and those who identify with the Church\u2019s social justice tradition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cConsequently, his declining popularity among Catholics reflects both the national political climate and the distinctive religious and ethnic diversity of American Catholicism,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n Burge said, \u201cI think this is an economic election. We can say that without a shadow of a doubt that everyone\u2019s worried about inflation, gas prices, eggs, milk, all that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n