So, Rick’s Catholic?
RICK SANTORUM, whose strong faith makes up the centerpiece of his White House candidacy, has a Catholic problem — namely, his own.
Despite his devout beliefs, Santorum has lost the vote of his fellow Catholics to Mormon Mitt Romney in 10 recent primary states, according to exit polls.
If Santorum had managed to carry a majority of Catholics in some of those states — including Michigan, where he lost a squeaker to Romney — he might have grabbed wins that would have transformed the Republican race.
Experts believe the key reason why the former Pennsylvania senator has struggled to connect with Catholics is that many of them don’t know he shares their faith.
“His political style and the way he talks about social issues, about social conservatism, is more in the style of an evangelical,” said David Hopkins, political science professor at Boston College.
Only 42% of Republican Catholics are aware of Santorum’s religious affiliation, according to a recent Pew Research poll.
He is trying to become only the second Catholic nominee — along with Democrat John Kerry in 2004 — since the election of the nation’s only Catholic President, John F. Kennedy.
“When he speaks, many evangelical Protestants see a kindred spirit,” said Hopkins. “His stances resonate more with them than with Catholics.”
The evangelical vote has propelled Santorum to some of his campaign’s signature wins, including in Iowa, Mississippi and Louisiana.
However, he lost the Catholic vote to Romney in 10 of 12 states, and barely edged the former Massachusetts governor with that group in Tennessee, according to polling done by Edison Research. “Even though the official teachings of the Catholic Church on issues like abortion and homosexuality are in line with some evangelicals,” Hopkins said, “average Catholics don’t vote like that.”
Santorum may have hurt himself by saying that Kennedy’s 1960 speech endorsing the separation of church and state made him want to “throw up.” But he really suffered because his brethren don’t vote as a block, experts said.
“Even Republican Catholics are not monolithic,” said Richard Fleisher, political science professor at Fordham University. “Catholics vote as the nation does as a whole — because of a whole host of issues.”
Many Catholics surveyed said that other factors, like the economy, steered them toward Romney, who is a Mormon, rather than a candidate who shared their faith.
“Religion is not as much of a driving force for [Catholics] as it is for evangelicals,” Fleisher said. “And they will be up for grabs in the general election too.”