Source: Post Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04221/357935.stm

On August 8, 2004 Post Gazette reported that, "many observers speak of the Catholic vote as though it were a united force waiting to be mobilized by one of the presidential nominees. The reality is not so simple... Catholics are now more educated, wealthy, suburban and employed in the higher professions than ever before. Many of these Catholics care more about tax cuts than about the minimum wage and welfare. GOP embracing of conservative social issue positions appeals to traditional churchgoing Catholics. The shift away from the Democratic Party has not meant an embrace of the GOP by Catholics. Democrats have experienced substantial losses in party identification among Catholics, but Republicans have experienced only moderate gains. The trend among partisans is increased Republicanism among white Catholics and increased support for Democrats among new immigrant, non-white Catholics... It is important to distinguish between 'faithful' Catholics and mere Catholic identifiers in the electorate... Surveys that make such distinctions show that Bush has strong support among faithful Catholics... [However] Bush's troubles are with the much larger population of Catholic identifiers who are not politically persuaded by Church positions on issues."