Catholic vote? Panelists at CPA-sponsored round table can't find one

Published: 2004-06-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President John F. Kennedy's last meeting at the White House before his Nov. 22, 1963, assassination was about why Catholic voters were becoming more Republican as they moved to the suburbs, a political science professor told Catholic journalists meeting in Washington May 28. It's a topic that has been debated ever since, professor John Kenneth White of The Catholic University of America said during a round-table discussion on the 2004 campaign at the Catholic Press Association's annual convention. Asked whether there is a Catholic vote, White said the answer was an "emphatic yes" in 1928, when Catholic politician Al Smith ran for president, and in 1960, when Kennedy won. "But there's no Catholic vote today to speak of," he said. "The big split now is between those who attend church regularly and those that don't." Those who do attend church at least weekly tend to vote Republican, while those who are less frequent churchgoers or do not attend any church tend to vote for Democrats, he added. Joining White in the round table were Russell Shaw, Washington correspondent for Our Sunday Visitor newspaper, and Joe Feuerherd, Washington correspondent for National Catholic Reporter newspaper. Sheilah Kast, former ABC-TV network news weekend anchor, moderated the discussion.

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