Abstract
Perhaps no religious group received more attention during the 2012 presidential campaign than Roman Catholics. Both the Obama and Romney campaigns viewed this group as crucially important to victory, and went hard after their support. In this chapter we examine the place of Roman Catholicism in the 2012 presidential contest. After reviewing the historical role of Catholic voters in American elections, we discuss the involvement of the American Catholic bishops in US elections, with particular attention to their highly visible actions during the 2012 campaign. Finally, we discuss the numerous ways the Obama and Romney campaigns tailored their appeals to this critical group of American voters. Our analyses find that as a group American Catholics are quintessential swing voters, and as such are highly attractive to both major parties. At the same time, American Catholics are a highly variegated constituency, with significant internal divisions related to religiosity, ideology, ethnicity, and social class. These internal divisions make it unlikely that either party will be able to corner the market on the Catholic vote, and also make it difficult for the American bishops to shape the voting behavior of their flock to the degree that they might wish.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Patrick W. Carey, The Roman Catholics (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993).
A. James Reichley, Religion in American Public Life (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1985).
Richard Jensen, The Winning of the Midwest (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971);
Paul Kleppner, The Cross of Culture: A Social Analysis of Midwestern Politics, 1850–1900 (New York: The Free Press, 1970);
Everett Carll Ladd, Jr., with Charles D. Hadley, Transformations of the American Party System (New York: W. W. Norton, 1975).
Lee Bensen, The Concept of Jacksonian Democracy: New York as a Test Case (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1961);
Vincent P. De Santis, “Catholicism and Presidential Elections, 1865–1900,” Mid-America, April 1960, Volume 42, pp. 67–79;
Andrew M. Greeley, The American Catholic: A Social Portrait (New York: Basic Books, 1977);
David Burner, The Politics of Provincialism (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968); Ladd with Hadley, Transformations of the American Party System;
Paul Lopatto, Religion and the Presidential Election (New York: Praeger, 1985);
Thomas T. McAvoy, A History of the Catholic Church in the United States (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1969).
Burner, The Politics of Provincialism; Walter Dean Burnham, “The Changing Shape of the American Political Universe,” American Political Science Review, March 1965, Volume 59, pp. 7–28;
Paul Kleppner, Continuity and Change in Electoral Politics, 1893–1928 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987); Reichley, Religion in American Public Life;
James L. Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1983).
John M. Allswang, A House for All Peoples: Ethnic Politics in Chicago, 1890–1936 (Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press); David Burner, The Politics of Provincialism (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968); Ladd with Hadley, Transformations of the American Party System; Lopatto, Religion and the Presidential Election.
Mark D. Brewer, Relevant No More? The Catholic/Protestant Divide in American Electoral Politics (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2003).
Michael Warner, Changing Witness: Catholic Bishops and Public Policy, 1917–1994 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995).
Thomas J. Reese, S. J., A Flock of Shepherds: The National Conference of Catholic Bishops (Franklin, WI: Sheed and Ward Publishing, 1992).
Michael J. Schuck, That They Be One: The Social Teaching of the Papal Encyclicals, 1740–1989 (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1991).
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2014 R. Ward Holder and Peter B. Josephson
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Powell, R.J., Brewer, M.D. (2014). Courting the Catholic Vote: Obama, Romney, and the US Catholic Bishops in the 2012 Presidential Election. In: Holder, R.W., Josephson, P.B. (eds) The American Election 2012. Elections, Voting, Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137389220_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137389220_18
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-48396-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-38922-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political Science CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)