2009 Reports

Catholicism and the Latino Vote

Mathews, Chris; Smith, Raymond Arthur

This brief focuses on Latinos and how Catholicism might influence their voting behavior. A large majority of Latinos are Catholic and a key indicator of how they cast their ballots is how closely a candidate or policy reflects traditional Catholic values. The Republican Party shares so many of these values which makes it attractive to Latinos, however, because of a recent absence of strong “Catholic rhetoric” in the Republican Party, not only are more Latinos joining the Democrats, they are becoming less religious.