Are Catholics finally turning their back on the party of death? As we all know, a majority of self identified Catholics voted for Barack Obama for President.
But this past week a number of polls have shown a stunning turnaround; an exodus of sorts from the Democrat Party. The Telegraph reports:
The Democrats’ 10-point lead among Catholic voters has been reversed into a 24-point Republican advantage.
That’s pretty startling.
Now, of course the pessimist in me wonders if it’s simply the bad economy that’s pushing that vote or is it the realization of many Catholics that the Democrat Party is the party of death panels, federal funding of abortion and behemoth government that aims to crowd out the Church from public life.
I don’t get out much because it’s still illegal to velcro the kids to the carpet and leave the house. In fact I think Punxsutawney Phil gets out more than I do but when I do I’ve heard from a few people that they simply forgot how radical the Democrat party was and the last two years have served as a shocking reminder which have made them flee the Democrat Party.
I don’t think we’ll know why this happened until perhaps 2012. I don’t think we’ll know for sure what’s driving this Catholic shift away from the Democrat Party until the economy improves.
But if the Republicans prove themselves to be the pro-life, limited government, and traditional values party I wonder if many Catholics will find a long term home there.
