The American Catholic Vote

The Dominion Post today opines that while the healthcare reforms undertaken by Obama recently are a laudable goal, that American voters are far more interested in him fixing the economy and that interest was reflected in the recent elections.

But as the shellac dries, it is apparent that Mr Obama allowed his dream of reforming healthcare to obscure the more pressing concerns of those who elected him in 2008.

At another time, fairer and more accessible healthcare might have been exactly the issue middle America wanted the president to spend his political capital advancing.

But during the past few years millions of Americans have lost their homes and their jobs as a result of the financial crisis. The issue they want to see the president wholeheartedly addressing is the economy.

However, what the Dominion Post does not take into consideration is the Catholic vote. Over the last couple of days, I've been reading online about a massive Catholic swing against the Democrats. And now that swing has translated into a change of the political landscape.

Pushed, in part, by concern about the health care bill, Catholic voters across the nation returned to the GOP in numbers resembling the presidential victory of George W. Bush in 2004. CNN exit polls record 55 percent of Catholics voted for the GOP while AP polling showed a whopping 58 percent, a twenty point increase since 2008. Either way, the 2008 Catholic support for Obama has completely reversed itself, perhaps with a vengeance.

In all, over 17 pro-life Catholics will be added to the Congress, while roughly 26 pro-abortion Catholics will be departing.

A large part of that concern by Catholics on the health care bill relates to potential federal abortion funding. America is becoming more and more pro-life, and this growing desire to restrict abortion is translating to votes at the polling booth.

Now, it may be that the economy has lead to the "biggest midterm rout since 1948." But having kept track of the pro-life news for years now, this purely financial view of the world that NZ has may have quite missed the point of what actually occurred in the US during their recent elections.

Related links:The Return of the Catholic Vote ~ American Spectator

It's the Economy, Mr Obama ~ Dominion Post Editorial