Why Catholics Voted for Trump, by Mary Eberstadt

Mary Eberstadt, First Things, Nov. 14, 2024

Mary Eberstadt is a senior research fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute. This essay is adapted from a column published in the French language edition of Aleteia.

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As Democrats and others assess the fallout from last week’s red bombshell, they’re looking at surprises in the exit polls. Here’s one that shouldn’t be missed: The nation’s Catholic voters split 56 to 41 in favor of Donald Trump.

In one way, that endorsement might seem to require explanation. After all, no one’s personal failings have been more exposed to global sunlight than Trump’s; and Catholics as a whole, unlike many evangelical Protestants, weren’t ground-floor MAGA fans. Even so, the fact that a Catholic majority in 2024 signed on to Trump-Vance makes inescapable sense, for at least three reasons.

First, key Democratic party policies have been locked in combat with key Catholic moral teachings for a long time now—ever since yesterday’s “safe, legal, and rare” abortions became “always, forever, and lots.” Not only is this grim consensus longstanding. It is also enforced. “Pro-life Democrat,” once a political identity, is now an oxymoron.  …

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