A new poll has reaffirmed Hillary Clinton's lead over Donald Trump among Catholic voters in the US presidential election.
The Democratic candidate is supported by 56 per cent of Catholics, compared to 40 per cent for the Republican, according to the survey commissioned by Catholics for Choice.
Clinton's strongest lead is among Latino Catholics, 63 per cent of whom support her while only 22 per cent are planning to vote for Trump, according to the poll. Latinos make up around a quarter (26 per cent) of the Catholic electorate.
Trump leads Clinton by 13 points among white Catholics, by 50 per cent to 37 per cent. He also has a slight lead among Catholic men: 45 per cent to Clinton's 41 per cent.
However, Clinton has a considerable lead among Catholic women – 50 per cent to 35 per cent – and enjoys a lead among Catholic millennials (aged 18-33) and so-called Generation X members (aged 34-49). The candidates are nearly even among baby boomers (aged 50-68), with Clinton slightly in the lead, winning 46 per cent support compared to 42 per cent for Trump.
The poll also found that 60 per cent of Catholic voters say that the views of the Catholic hierarchy are not important to them when they are deciding who to vote for in the presidential election.
Some 72 per cent of those polled believe that abortion should be available to pregnant women who have contracted the Zika virus, and 70 per cent of Catholics do not think that companies should be allowed to use the owner's religious beliefs as a reason to deny services to a customer or employee.
President of Catholics for Choice, John O'Brien said: "The Catholic vote is like a jump ball in basketball—every election it comes into play and both parties try to claim it as their own. As it represents 25 per cent of the electorate, considerable effort goes into trying to determine which team will grab it. However, as this new poll shows what we've always known: Catholics are concerned with social justice and compassion and do not vote with the bishops, no matter how much the bishops try to project their own beliefs onto this section of the electorate."
Belden Russonello Strategists carried out a nationally representative survey of 1,105 Americans from September 8 to 13, 2016 using the GfK Knowledge Panel.
