Catholic voters across the country turned to Donald Trump in droves in the 2024 election, contributing to his unexpected landslide victory on election night.
In 2020, Catholics were evenly split between Presidents Joe Biden and Trump, with 50% supporting Trump and 49% supporting Biden.
According to exit polls compiled by Fox News on election night, Catholics nationwide widened their lead over Trump by 9 points, with the former president and current future president leading Catholics by 10 points.
Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League, a religious and civil rights organization, told Fox News Digital that Catholics firmly rejected Harris because of what he called his “obvious hostility toward Catholics.”
“The main reason she was rejected is because she is involved in extremist politics, and that is something that the American people will never tolerate,” he said.
Harris officially recognizes Trump's landslide victory the day after
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Mint Hill, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
There are approximately 52 million adult Catholics in the United States, making it the largest religious denomination in the United States. Historically, Catholic voters' political opinions have been divided between both parties, with many believing that there is no such thing as a Catholic voting bloc.
But following Tuesday's election results, Brian Birch, president of the conservative activist group Catholic Vote, said Catholic voters had proven that theory wrong.
“There's a new electoral trend here, and if Republicans are smart they'll seize on it,” he told Fox News Digital.
President Trump addresses supporters in victory speech
On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance of Cincinnati arrives at St. Anthony Maronite Catholic Church in Padua to vote. (AP Photo/Carolyn Custer)
In January, Catholic voters supported President Trump for the first time in history.
The group has spent $10 million on advertising, education and a “Catholic vs. Catholic” campaign program highlighting key swing states.
According to a CatholicVote memo shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, the organization has contacted more than 2 million Catholic voters across the country, including in battleground states Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. This includes approximately 100,000 “high-affinity, low-inclination Catholics.''
The memo said the 2024 election “proves that the Democratic Party has a Catholic problem and must now grapple with the growing influence of Catholic progressives.” [the] It is a political party that is openly hostile to people of faith. ”
About 100 Catholics gathered outside the governor's house. (Catholic vote)
“In the past, the Democratic Party has united many Catholic voters by tradition, by platitudes about social justice, by pretending they care about the poor and vulnerable,” Birch said. I was able to do that,'' he explained.
“This election has shown that the poor and vulnerable are the ones who suffer from inflation and uncontrolled borders that create crime and instability in their communities,” he said. .
While Catholic support exceeded expectations at the national level, the gap in support for Trump among Catholic voters was even wider in some of the most important battleground states.
In Pennsylvania, which has 19 electoral votes and was considered the most important battleground state by both candidates, Catholics make up a quarter of the electorate. Catholic voters in Pennsylvania supported Trump by a 56-43 percent margin, or a 13-point margin, according to Fox exit polls.
People line up on voting day for the 2024 US presidential election at Park Tavern on November 5, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. (Reuters/Cheney Orr)
Meanwhile, Catholic voters in the next largest swing states, North Carolina (16 electors) and Michigan (15 electors), supported Mr. Trump by margins of 17 and 20 points, respectively.
Trump also won among Catholics in Wisconsin by a 16-point margin, helping give the state's 10 electoral votes to the former president.
According to the CatholicVote memo, there were two key moments in the 2024 presidential election when Harris lost Catholic votes. The first was when Harris said she was “at the wrong rally” after protesters chanted “Jesus is Lord” in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The second was when Harris said in an interview on NBC that she opposes religious exemptions for doctors who perform abortions.
“Kamala Harris despises us, and she has repeatedly acknowledged that we are most concerned about her hostility and bigotry toward Catholics. No. She introduced a bill that would cut our charities. She said there would be no accommodations for Catholics if… , which would have effectively ended Catholic health care in America,” he explained.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris watches the event monitor from backstage shortly before taking the stage at her final campaign rally in Philadelphia on Monday, November 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin) (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
In short, Birch said, it became clear that Harris posed a “threat to our Catholic way of life.”
Meanwhile, Birch said President Trump's message of improving the economy and restoring law and order to borders and communities is increasingly connecting with everyday working-class Catholics.
According to Birch, what has emerged is what he calls “family-first policies, America-first economic policies, and, more importantly, everyday Americans who feel left behind.” It is said to be a “new synthesis'' of what has been called “populist social justice that prioritizes the plight of people''. They are behind it by their own government. ”
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a flashlight during a visit to the Cavalry Chapel in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, on October 3, 2017. Nearly two weeks after Hurricane Maria struck the U.S. territory, much of the island remains food insecure and without power. Or drinking water. ((Photo credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images))
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Birch said he is in “fairly regular” contact with President Trump's policy advisers about the issues that matter most to everyday Catholics and their families. He said he spoke with President Trump last Friday night, just before taking the stage at a rally in Milwaukee.
“We talked about the importance of the Catholic vote, and I told him…Catholics would run this election for him,” he said. “It turns out I was right.”
