have certain catholics been voting republican for longer than we think?

[freepcrusher]

Me thinks so, people talk about catholics being new to the republican coalition with Reagan but they had occasionally voted republican in the past too. In my 1974 almanac, there were several catholic republican congressman I can think of off the top of my head:
Margaret Heckler (MA)
Silvio Conte (MA)
James Grover (NY)
Angelo Roncallo (NY)
Joseph Maraziti (NJ)
Ed Derwinski (IL)
John Erlenborn (IL)
Bill Archer (TX)

election returns also show that Eisenhower won the Catholic vote both times. Also, there was evidence they were voting republican before the great depression (or before 1928) as most of the urban northern cities were very republican until 1928. There used to be a lot of big city ethnic republican machines in those days.

Lastly, I think it has to do with ethnicity. There are a lot of Catholic areas in western Ohio that are of mostly German ancestry that have gone republican since the end of the Great Depression and where there was a strong isolationist streak. It also seems that there were a lot of upwardly mobile Italian Catholics who dominated the local GOP in areas like Nassau and Suffolk County as well as Richmond Counties in New York. For the most part it seems that the most loyal democrat catholics were the Irish and the Poles. The Mexicans were/are very loyal too but there weren't that many back then to matter.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Catholics were and still are Lean D overall.

[politicus]

Catholics were and still are Lean D overall.

Sure. But differences between various ethnic groups of Catholics are still interesting. Why does Italians that "make it" become more R than upper middle class Irish and Poles etc.
Hispanic and Italian culture has some similarities, so it is intersting if some economically successful Hispanic groups will also become more R in the future. That will be crucial to the success of the Republican party in the years ahead.

[Gustaf]

Catholics were and still are Lean D overall.

Sure. But differences between various ethnic groups of Catholics are still interesting. Why does Italians that "make it" become more R than upper middle class Irish and Poles etc.
Hispanic and Italian culture has some similarities, so it is intersting if some economically successful Hispanic groups will also become more R in the future. That will be crucial to the success of the Republican party in the years ahead.

I remember that I once saw data indicating that Hispanics vote Democrat mostly due to being disproportionately poor (as opposed to the Black vote, which is hardly affected by income level). I think that has changed in recent years though.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Irish Catholics come in the mid nineteenth century, a time when the Northern GOP was often prohibitionist, anti-Catholic and often anti-worker? I'm thinking of the Know-Nothings, "Rum, Romanism, Rebellion" and so on.

The Italians, I thought, typically came later when these conflicts might have been a bit less pronounced.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

White Catholics have trended R lately, but overall Poles and Irish are still Lean D due to being more working-class. The most Republican whites are still English and Germans.

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

Catholics were and still are Lean D overall.

Sure. But differences between various ethnic groups of Catholics are still interesting. Why does Italians that "make it" become more R than upper middle class Irish and Poles etc.
Hispanic and Italian culture has some similarities, so it is intersting if some economically successful Hispanic groups will also become more R in the future. That will be crucial to the success of the Republican party in the years ahead.

I remember that I once saw data indicating that Hispanics vote Democrat mostly due to being disproportionately poor (as opposed to the Black vote, which is hardly affected by income level). I think that has changed in recent years though.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Irish Catholics come in the mid nineteenth century, a time when the Northern GOP was often prohibitionist, anti-Catholic and often anti-worker? I'm thinking of the Know-Nothings, "Rum, Romanism, Rebellion" and so on.

The Italians, I thought, typically came later when these conflicts might have been a bit less pronounced.

yup you're right.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I've read up on the 1896 election as part of a paper I was doing, and McKinley attracted large numbers of Catholics thanks to his pro-urban stances as well as Bryan's pro-rural and evangelical rhetoric. Estimates have him winning 40-45% of the Catholic vote. McKinley played very well with Mid-Western Catholics, especially Germans, and along with Lutherans, those two made up very large parts of Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, etc. I suppose with increasing Republican margins of victory in 1900 and 1904, the trend increased.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Acting like "Catholics" are a unified voting bloc at all and ever has been is a pretty stupid assumption.

[Mechaman]

I believe that the Republican strength in the 1920's is pretty self-explanatory if one knows the history of Woodrow Wilson's second term and of James Cox's self destructive and blatantly idiotic presidential campaign.

Also, some insight into Calvin Coolidge:

http://www.calvin-coolidge.org/html/coolidge_and_the_northampton_i.html
http://www.city-journal.org/2012/bc0316cj.html

Which explains why a certain group didn't return to the home base in 1924.

1928 was a MASSIVE reversal of the previous two elections (at least in regards to the Catholic vote).

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I believe that the Republican strength in the 1920's is pretty self-explanatory if one knows the history of Woodrow Wilson's second term and of James Cox's self destructive and blatantly idiotic presidential campaign.

Also, some insight into Calvin Coolidge:

http://www.calvin-coolidge.org/html/coolidge_and_the_northampton_i.html
http://www.city-journal.org/2012/bc0316cj.html

Which explains why a certain group didn't return to the home base in 1924.

1928 was a MASSIVE reversal of the previous two elections (at least in regards to the Catholic vote).

Thanks for providing these. Makes one of my favorite Presidents seem even greater.

[tpfkaw]

German Catholics have been voting Republican since 1920 (with possible exceptions in 28/60/64).  Otherwise there's probably more variation by region than ethnicity, though there are probably certain Catholic communities with Republican voting patterns dating back to the 19th century.

[traininthedistance]

White Catholics have trended R lately, but overall Poles and Irish are still Lean D due to being more working-class. The most Republican whites are still English and Germans.

I'd bet that there are several groups which vote at least as Republican as English and German-Americans: the Dutch and "Scotch-Irish" come to mind.  Also, people who put their ancestry down as "American" (though that group has substantial overlap with Scotch-Irish and English).  While people with self-identified English ancestry are among the most Republican whites, I suspect this is actually less because of WASP culture than people think, and more because Mormons are so heavily "English".  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:English2000.png is a pretty good visualization of this.)

I also wouldn't be surprised if Russians were a fairly strong R demographic, though maybe that's just because of Brighton Beach.

[Mechaman]

White Catholics have trended R lately, but overall Poles and Irish are still Lean D due to being more working-class. The most Republican whites are still English and Germans.

Irish Catholics are still considered "working class"?

I mean yeah, obviously in places like Southie it might be true, but I was under the impression they've trended more "lace curtain" over the past half century.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I mean yeah, obviously in places like Southie it might be true, but I was under the impression they've trended more "lace curtain" over the past half century.

Plenty of working class houses with lace curtains, surely?