From The Hill:
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden holds a 12-point lead over President Trump among likely voters who identify as Catholic, according to a poll released Monday.
A EWTN News/RealClear Opinion poll found in a poll of 1,212 likely Catholic voters that 53 percent favor Biden, compared to 41 percent who prefer Trump. The poll was taken before the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The poll found that 50 percent of respondents voted for 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton while 45 percent voted for Trump, a sign that Biden has widened the gap among Catholic voters.
EWTN frames it this way:
With the U.S. presidential election now only weeks away, the latest EWTN News/RealClear Opinion Research poll on Catholic priorities in the 2020 election finds that Catholics who are likely voters say they have been profoundly impacted by the pandemic, and that the issues of greatest concern are the economy and jobs, healthcare and Coronavirus. The vast majority of Catholic likely voters are also concerned about recent anti-religious actions and violence including Church desecrations and bible burnings. The poll, which is the third of four surveys conducted since November 2019, revealed that most Catholics have been distressed at being unable to attend Mass during the pandemic, with most also saying that it is now safe to return to Church.
In terms of the presidential election, the poll – taken before the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg – found that Catholic likely voters overall prefer former Vice President Joe Biden to President Donald Trump. Biden has led Trump among overall Catholic voters in each of the previous EWTN News/Real Clear polls. Trump also continues to enjoy majority support from Catholics in certain subgroups such as those who set aside time to pray each day or attend Mass more than once a week.
“The most observant Roman Catholics still tend to support Donald Trump and the Republican Party, as do large majorities of white evangelical Protestants – and are among the most highly motivated voters,” said RealClearPolitics Washington bureau chief Carl M. Cannon. “But the question for the GOP is whether there are enough of these voters to make up the difference.”
