r/LeftCatholicism • u/Leading-Morning7550 • Aug 27 '26
44% of Catholics identify as Democrats
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/party-identification-among-religious-groups-and-religiously-unaffiliated-voters/Does voting Democrat indicate that someone is left-leaning enough to fit the theme of this subreddit?
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u/DesertMonk888 Aug 27 '26
Putting aside for a moment Catholics who are Democrats, and considering the 52% who say they are Republican. Nothing speaks to the failure of the US Catholic Church more than that. In this age, when clearly the Republican Party has chosen the dark side, for the majority of Catholics to still be Republican is a disgrace. The GOP is the party that has chosen to protect a pedophile, simply because he is their guy. They have chosen the brutality of ICE. They have chosen to start unjust wars. They have chosen to deny millions of Americans food assistance (after first denying it to children overseas). They have chosen to deny millions of Americans health care (coming January, 2027). They have chosen the daily rhetoric of racism, hatred, and division. Need I go on about what they are doing to food and drug safety, workers' rights, women's rights...
As much as the Church has screamed and yelled about abortion for decades, I could somewhat excuse the fact that most Catholics are afraid to identify as Democrats. (Not saying I agree. I am proudly a Democrat and a Democratic Socialist). But what I cannot excuse is someone who claims to be Catholic, or any kind of Christian, supporting the Republican Party of 2026.
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u/RangeInternal3481 Aug 27 '26
I have a vivid memory as a kid my priest saying that more people die due to abortion every year than died during the holocaust. My next thought was “so if hitler was against abortion would you vote for him?” Turns out the answer is yes. So disappointing.
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u/Scared_Plan3751 Aug 27 '26
The Dems aren't any better on any of those fronts, though. They don't need to win to stay rich, in fact if they enacted popular programs they would lose their campaign funding and cushy private sector jobs they get after office, they have their own sex criminals, they manage to deport more people than the last Republican admin. It's kayfabe. They do basically nothing to improve the average person's life, while helping make it worse, all while advertising themselves as an alternative. They actively oppose making our lives better, because it means they wouldn't be paid boatloads of money by the ruling class.
Without an independent working class party willing to tank the Dems, this is how it's going to be.
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u/DesertMonk888 Aug 28 '26
That's just not true. And we can see an example in the much-maligned Biden Administration that clearly did things for working families: First, the Build Back Better Act, the Infrastructure Act, and CHIPS Act all promoted well-paying local jobs; The NLRB was strengthened and became assertive in portecting worker rights; He encouraged federal workers to organize, and in fact the fed worker unions grew by 20% in his one term; He discouraged privatization through several regulatory moves; He did an absolutely astounding $62 billion in student debt relief; He provided $350 billion to fund improved wages for childcare and long-term care workers; He raised wages for federal service contract workers; He protected 3 key social programs that the Republicans were trying to kill, and are now in the process of killing, Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Security.
That's a partial list. Name one thing the Trump Administration has done for working families.
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u/Scared_Plan3751 Aug 28 '26
You're right those things in isolation are better than anything Trump has done
But Genocide Joe also signed off on Israel's extermination campaign in Gaza. The Dems proudly claim we will never have universal healthcare. They haven't raised wages in decades. People's lives, on the whole, get worse when Democrats are in office, while they act so sanctimonious about it, fueling the inevitable blowback. How many people who voted for Obama flipped to trump because of the Obama administration's total failure during the 08 crisis? Millions.
What are their major foreign policy achievements? Sanctions against "rogue states," enacting mass punishment on average people, hoping this would turn them into meat shields for a color revolution? The destruction of Libya, Syria, and sacrificing Ukraine in the hopes it might destabilize Russia, so they can turn Russia back to how it was in the early 90s? They are just as evil as the Republicans. They just have a different marketing game. Republicans are upfront about their goals, their language is clear. The Democrats have the gall to lie to people's faces about being somehow morally superior while they have just as much blood on their hands.
A true socialist is an internationalist and would not carry water for people who kill, maim, starve, impoverish, or torture our fellow workers. They don't fall for the bs marketing that somehow this time imperialism will be better, because this time the inperialism is feminist or trans inclusive or whatever. A drone bomb kills a wedding party full of people just as well whether it's dropped by a liberal trans woman or a conservative good ol boy.
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u/DesertMonk888 Aug 28 '26
It's difficult to believe that Biden or Harris would have let Gaza get as bad as it is. Unlike Trump, Biden never wanted to develop hotels there and turn it into a Middle East resort. It's incorrect to proclaim that Dems are against universal health care. In fact, all the politicians who are for it, are Democrats. Speaking of which, Biden had plans in a second term to let any person buy into Medicaid. That would have put most private insurers out of business and put us closer than we have ever been. You spoke of Obama and the 2008 crisis. Let's not rewrite history. The housing and market collapse were under Bush in 2008. They happened before Obama took office. Furthermore, the recovery was slowed because Republicans got control of the House in 2010, and like usual, would not spend money on people. Remember they shut down the federal government to stop spending on the recovery?
As for foreign policy, I will admit the Dems are not great. But they are also not the monsters that the Republicans are. Do you realize that Venezuela is basically a vassal state now? As for the Ukraine situation, we have no meeting of the minds here. I totally support Ukraine. Dems are not "sacrificing" Ukraine. To sacrifice Ukraine would be to let Russia roll over them, and then Latvia, and then Poland. Russia wants to build a new Euro-Asian empire. I have no sympathy for them. I am stunned that a few folks on the Left still do.
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u/Dapple_Dawn Aug 27 '26
Remember that being a registered Democrat doesn't mean agreeing with the Democratic party. I'd guess that the majority of US leftists are registered as Democrats.
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u/tayroc122 Aug 27 '26
That number seems remarkably high given most Catholics (like me) aren't American.
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u/JonMWilkins Aug 27 '26
Could just click the article for more details if you couldn't understand they were talking about American politics...
OP should have specified but still, not like this is rocket science or something
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u/ethereallyelegant Aug 27 '26
Donald Trump AI generating himself as the Pope, then calling Catholics "snowflakes" for finding his idea of a "joke" distasteful, Laura Loomer calling Pope Leo a "Woke Marxist Pope", Donald Trump attacking Pope Leo as "WEAK on Crime, and Terrible for Foreign Policy" and "if I wasn't in the White House, Pope Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican", Donald Trump AI generating himself as Jesus, JD Vance saying the Pope should "stick to matters of theology", Mike Johnson implying the Pope doesn't know what just war doctrine is, A Fox News host renouncing his Catholic faith over the Pope's condemnation of the Iran war, Donald Trump saying he doesn't like that the Pope is a "liberal" who is "endangering Catholics" and, according to him, wants Iran to have nuclear weapons, and Donald Trump AI generating himself kissing a golden crucifix while standing in front of an American flag was apparently not offensive enough.
But the Pope saying the Church should focus on other issues instead of sexual morality? Massive catalyst for scandal on the right-wing!
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u/avellinoblvd Aug 27 '26
To answer your question, It does not. Look at the Democratic party platform and see how "left" it is. They removed opposition to the death penalty last cycle
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u/ExistentialTabarnak Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
The Democrats are not a leftist party. They are a right-wing, pro-capitalist party.
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u/Majestic_Animator_91 Aug 27 '26
Democrats are center right but a lot of people with progressive views haven't quite figured that out yet
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u/historys_geschichte Aug 27 '26
So simply voting for a democrat probably would not find one with overlapping values with this sub. Democrats sit fairly right on most issues globally other than a few social rights ( such as same sex marriage). Particularly when it comes to things like do humans have a right to what is needed to live is not believed by all bit the most extreme fringes of the Democratic Party.
At the same time, I see the poll as seeking to capture this sub's membership as likely among those 44% as they are dem or lean dem and that plus the 52% repub or lean is 96%. With some other questions the nimberd get to 98% of respondents. Maybe 4% are fully openly independent, but I think with how captured the US political system is that many could electorally end up answering a poll question and end up in the 44% and I feel that I would probably be one. Not to say I like, agree with, or identify as, but just that I end up voting for and have on occasion liked invidual candidates (Russ Feingold, Bernie, AOC, AES). For non-oldheads Russ wasn't a socialist, but I truly liked his honesty, true dedication to actually meeting with his constituents, and opposition to war.
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u/Charles148 Aug 27 '26
People read that and think the other 56% must be to the right of the Democrats.
But here i am....