The American Catholic Voter

George Marlin’s review of the 200 year history of the Catholic vote

Now this seems like an interesting read, as summarized by TownHall.com:

There’s a school of thought that says that the Catholic vote does not matter, that the American Catholic vote is really just the American vote with Catholicism as window dressing. After all, this view claims, didn’t ethnic Catholics in the 19th century vote with their ethnicity, throwing off the Anglo-Catholic legacy of America’s only Catholic founder, John Carroll? Didn’t working-class, inner-city Catholics support the Democratic Party on pocketbook issues, just as their Protestant working-class neighbors did?

And what of the big ‘split’ in the Catholic vote? More suburban, affluent, less ethnic Catholics were bound to move out of the Democratic Party sooner or later. When the Democratic Party embraced abortion on demand, it set itself apart not only from most Mass-attending Catholics, but also from their pro-life, Protestant counterparts. Is there really a ‘Catholic vote’?

What this view misunderstands – and what Marlin’s books underscores – is that ever since the Catholic vote ceased to be the ethnic vote, Catholics in large numbers have withheld loyalty from either party. They have tended to either vote with the inertia of tradition, or along single-issue lines. In other words, Catholic Democrats remain Democrats unless an issue moves them to either vote differently or change parties. This has led to a still-fluid realignment among Catholics who cannot be separated cleanly by the welfare vs. abortion formula. Reagan won these Catholic voters to the GOP, Clinton wooed most of them back, and George W. Bush gathered 51% of the total Catholic vote in 2000 largely by appealing to cultural issues. Orthodox American Catholics are greatly influenced by Catholic teachings, but less impressed by non-doctrinal statements from the Vatican or U.S. bishops.

Looks interesting, and a statement about the Catholic vote about which I entirely agree.

UPDATE: This is a much better review from the Claremont Institute. I’m definitely buying this book.