Nate Balmert, Staff Writer
Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan was recently announced as the Republican vice-presidential candidate. Like Vice-President Joe Biden, Ryan is a practicing Roman Catholic who admittedly incorporates his faith into his political philosophy – perhaps most notably in his budget proposal as Chairman of the Budget Committee. That said, it is prudent to examine if and how Ryan’s Catholicism will impact the 2012 presidential election.
When considering the role of Catholicism in modern American politics, it is important to understand historical context. In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected the first Catholic president of the United States. He won a Pulitzer Prize for a book on United States Senators who risked their political careers for their personal beliefs. Today, one’s personal beliefs need not, and often do not, dictate political beliefs.
In the 1960 primaries, Kennedy was strongly supported by Catholics but opposed by Protestants wary of his faith. Due to the hostility of American Protestants, this polarity did not have a strong effect on the election itself. However, the political and religious landscape has since changed.
According a Gallup poll taken before Ryan was selected, Catholics supported both Romney and Obama equally, 46 percent overall. Hispanic Catholics supported Obama 70 percent to 20 percent, while white non-Hispanic Catholics favored Romney 55 percent to 38 percent. In June 2008, Obama led Arizona Senator John McCain 47 percent to 43 percent among Catholics. From these numbers, Catholics appear to vote in a similar proportion to the nation as a whole.
Notre Dame Political Science Professor Dave Campbell agrees with the national trend. “While we could once speak of a single ‘Catholic vote’ that was distinctive, today’s Catholic voters reflect the heterogeneity of the Church, and the nation as a whole,” he said.
In short, Campbell believes that the electoral significance of the vice-president’s religion is minimal.
“Just as few Catholics are likely to vote for the president because Vice President Biden is Catholic; few Catholics will decide to vote for the Romney ticket because Paul Ryan is Catholic,” Campbell emphasized. Indeed, the fact that both Biden and Ryan are Catholics of a different stripe only reinforces the point that there is not one Catholic vote in America, but instead many Catholic votes.” As issues such as same-sex unions and abortion continue to divide the Catholic vote, Professor Campbell suggests that there is an ever increasingly diverse group of people with different personal beliefs who are subsumed under the category of ‘the Catholic vote.’
The presidential election will largely be determined by each ticket’s agenda for improving the economy, yet the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops offers no official guidelines prescribing which economical models or programs would most fully reflect and embody Catholic teaching. Consequently, for many Catholics, it is difficult to discern the moral legitimacy of a candidate’s proposed schemes without a guiding rubric established by the Magisterium.
Ryan’s Catholic profile was seemingly strengthened by his correspondence and partnership with Archbishop of New York Timothy Cardinal Dolan during the recent budget proposal process. Cardinal Dolan is notably delivering the convocation at the Republican National Convention. Dolan offered this same prayerful service at the Democratic National Convention, but party leaders declined.
As Catholic voters head to the booths in November, Ryan and Biden’s Catholicism may be an influential factor in the electoral outcome. It is debatable though, as Campbell noted, to what extent the Catholic faith of members of either ticket will influence the 2012 presidential election. The Catholic vote is increasingly divided along partisan lines. While Catholics still comprise a large plurality of the nation’s voters, a given candidate’s Catholicism is not as powerful a factor in today’s political landscape as it was in the 1960s.
Nate Balmert is a senior biological sciences major and anthropology minor who dabbles in political discourse. When not found discussing philosophy or pondering American culture, he is studying to save lives, possibly yours someday. Contact him at nbalmert@nd.edu.
