Iowa presents first test of 2024 Catholic vote in U.S.

 

CatholicVote president Brian Burch discusses the upcoming Iowa caucuses with “EWTN News Nightly” host Tracy Sabol on Jan. 9, 2024. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 11, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The first contest in the Republican presidential nomination will take place in Iowa on Jan. 15 and the political advocacy group CatholicVote is focused on driving higher participation by Catholics in that state as well as the rest of the country.

“Large numbers of Mass-attending Catholics … do not regularly vote in elections, and I think it’s incumbent upon us and those of us who care about what’s happening in our country not just to sit back and watch the news and complain and get frustrated, but to actually get out there and vote,” CatholicVote President Brian Burch said in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Tracy Sabol.

According to CatholicVote, only about half of Iowa’s Catholics voted in the 2022 midterm elections, which is a number that the organization is trying to increase through its voter mobilization program.

Burch said that “because of the size of the Catholic Church in this country, even a small increase in the percentage of mass-attending Catholics voting could have a dramatic impact on the outcome of these elections.”

With the Catholic Church’s “preeminent priority” of abortion on the minds of many voters, Burch noted that each of the Republican candidates are pro-life at some level, particularly when compared with what he called incumbent President Joe Biden’s “extreme abortion advocacy.”

Former President Donald Trump, who polls indicate continues to be the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination, has not clearly stated whether he would support a ban on abortions in the 15th week of pregnancy. His top two rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, however, have said they would sign 15-week bans, but Haley has emphasized that such legislation is unlikely to reach the president’s desk.

Despite the Church’s consistent teaching on abortion, a recent poll conducted by Pew found that about 46% of Catholics believe abortion pills should be legal and only about 26% of Catholic respondents said they should be illegal.

“The Church is very clear: abortion pills, abortion surgeries, or abortions in general are never justified, and so this is a very tragic state and I think all of us have a role to play here,” Burch said. “Our bishops have a role, our priests have a role, and we as laypeople have to help people understand that this involves the taking of an innocent human life. It destroys marriages and it perverts the entire Church teaching on sexuality,” Burch said.

Commenting on the state of the race, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Catholic and Republican representing Iowa’s First Congressional District, told Sabol that the renomination of former President Trump is far from a sure thing.

“I don’t think anything is inevitable,” Miller-Meeks said. “I like the policies of President Trump. He is [the] former president. He is not an incumbent this cycle. And I think all of us know of the perils of reelecting Joe Biden. So all of us want someone that can be Joe Biden and someone that can pass things into law.”

A compilation of polls from the election analysis website FiveThirtyEight shows former President Donald Trump leading in Iowa’s statewide polls with nearly 52% support. DeSantis and Haley are in a tight race for second, with the former polling just above 17% and the latter polling just under 17%. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy sits at a distant fourth with slightly more than 6% and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is at fifth with 3%.

A compilation of polls from RealClearPolling shows Trump ahead of Biden at the national level by about 1.2 percentage points. DeSantis, alternatively, trails Biden in national polling by about one-third of one percentage point, while Haley leads Biden by 3.3 percentage points.


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3 Comments

  1. “perils of reelecting Joe Biden”? Yes! But, Trump is not a peril? Trump hoodwinked Christians by saying he was “pro-life” only to seek their votes.

    As struggling Republicans, we will not vote in the 2024 presidential election. Why? Trump is, and has been, a moral disaster. His competitors sealed their fate when asked at a debate if Trump is a convicted criminal would they support him for president. All but Christie raised their hands saying YES!

    American fragile democracies’ heart has been pierced when we are blinded by the darkness of Trump’s vial rhetoric and criminal actions and deafened by the silence of our Republican congress and the Catholic Church.

    We must hold our children closer.

    God help us.

    • I don’t understand your comment, “Trump hoodwinked Christians by saying he was pro-life only to seek their votes.” No, he didn’t. He appointed three Supreme Court justices who were key in overturning Roe v. Wade, which certainly didn’t end legal abortion, but it allowed states to make their own choice–and my state is pro-life! The SC decision means that babies in many states are allowed to live, provideding that

      I don’t understand your comment, “Pres. Trump hoodwinked Christians by saying that he was pro-life only to gain their votes.” That’s not true. He appointed three Supreme Court justices who were KEY to the repeal of Roe vs. Wade, which has allowed the states to determine whether they will be pro-life or pro-death. Yes, it’s not perfect, but according to our Constitution, the President does not have the power to declare that the entire nation will be pro-life! Yes, it’s awful that Mommy can choose to cross state lines (e.g., into Illinois, where Gov. Pritzker is working to put abortion clinics in state line cities and town, including my former city, to attract out-of-state women who “choose abortion.” But it’s a whole lot better than a Constitution that allowed abortion without restraint. I agree that Pres. Trump has more than his share of moral issues, but his children are exemplary, especially his son Barron, who has been raised beautifully by First Lady Melania Trump. WHen someone raises “good” children, that’s a sign that they’re doing something right. Also, I know of at least one charitable organization in NYC that was struggling to stay afloat, funded primarily by its founder (a coach), whose goal was to help inner-city girls (mainly African Americans and Hispanic-Americans) from grade school through high school stay in school and make something out of themselves. Back before he was famous through various TV shows, Donald Trump stepped in and donated a ton of money because he believed in the charity, and today, that charity has a 99.9% high school graduation rate, and many of the girls who were involved with this charity have gone on to earn advanced college degrees. The Board of Directors for this charity includes A-list stars as well as NYC dignitaries, and it is working to become a franchise so that other inner-city neighborhoods can gain the benefits of this charitable organization. Like most of us, Donald Trump has many sins, but he also has done many good things that are not made public–and isn’t that what Jesus told us to do with our good works? Yes, I would prefer to vote for another Republican candidate than Donald Trump and I will do that in the primaries, but…I know that if a Republican other than Donald Trump is elected, they will face constant excruciating attacks on themselves and their family by liberals/Democrats/media/entertainment/non-Christian religious establishments (including many Protestant denominations), and I think Pres. Trump’s abrasive personality and sheer stubbornness will withstand these attacks that would cause other kinder, gentler folks to crumple into tears and despair, ot give way to anger that will result in their eventual downfall. I pray for Democrats to come to their senses, and I pity Democrats who try to be pro-life–they’re kidding themselves. In the meantime, I’ll vote for the pro-life candidate, and I think Donald Trump has proved himself pro-life with his Supreme Court appointments.

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