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Trump Ends Evangelicals and Catholics Together

This election, many of evangelicals’ GOP allies across the Tiber are leaving for Clinton.

During an interview last night on the Catholic Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Donald Trump said, “Why would an evangelical or a Catholic—almost you could say anybody of faith, but in particular evangelicals and Catholics—how could they vote for Hillary Clinton?”

Trump was also featured on Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) the same night, saying if evangelicals turn out to vote, “we’re gonna win the election.” [Both videos appear at the end of this article.]

The truth is, evangelicals and Catholics no longer make up the religious voting bloc Republicans relied on for decades—and it’s Catholics who are stepping away for Clinton. While many evangelicals have given Trump their reluctant blessing, more of their brothers and sisters across the Tiber are increasingly split between the Republican and Democratic presidential tickets.

Most evangelicals of color have backed Clinton, and American Catholics’ soaring ethnic diversity—more than their Protestant counterparts and more than in years past—is partly responsible for their veering voting patterns.

More than a quarter of American Catholics are first-generation immigrants, and 42 percent are people of color, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. These demographics impact church politics as a whole; even white Catholics are up to twice as likely to support Clinton as white evangelicals.

“Trump is also seeing erosion among white Catholics in comparison with previous GOP candidates,” said Stephen F. Schneck, director for the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at Catholic University. “That reflects rising education levels among …

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