The co-founder of the faith-based political advocacy group “Catholics for Harris” recently slammed the Harris-Walz campaign for disregarding the Christian vote. Christopher Hale recently penned an opinion piece that called out the Democratic Party, urging it to address its “God Problem,” what he describes as a contributing factor to President-elect Trump’s landslide victory.
The article titled “Kamala Harris Lost Catholic Voters Because She Didn’t Try To Win Them” diagnosed some of the key reasons that Trump won almost 60 percent of the Catholic vote compared to Harris’ 40 percent. Hale pointed to moves from Harris, such as skipping the Al Smith Dinner, something virtually unheard of for a presidential candidate to do, as a major factor in her poor performance among Catholics.
“The morning I found out Kamala Harris wasn’t going to the Al Smith Dinner, I was dumbfounded,” Hale wrote. He further criticized the prerecorded video that Harris played at the dinner as a replacement for her presence. “The video the Harris campaign played instead missed the mark entirely—it felt like it was put together by media operatives who believed their Catholic grade-school education gave them the insight needed to grasp the particular instincts of Catholic voters across the nation,” he added.
Continuing, Hale claimed, “The Al Smith Dinner has long been a crucial platform for engaging with Catholic voters and demonstrating a willingness to find common ground, even on the most divisive issues. Not showing up felt like a deliberate decision to sidestep an important constituency—a decision that underscored the Democratic Party’s growing “God problem.””
Hale further argues that, in contrast with Harris, President-elect Trump made it a point to campaign hard for the Catholic and evangelical vote through various mediums. This could certainly explain Trump’s tremendous improvement this election cycle compared to 2020, when Biden won 52 percent of the Catholic vote compared to Trump’s 47 percent.
Hale concluded that the Democratic Party must reevaluate its identity and how it can address its lack of engagement with religious voters, or else Democrats will not be competitive in substantial portions of the country. “If the Democratic Party hopes to regain its footing, it must address its “God problem” head on. This means taking a more inclusive approach that acknowledges the importance of faith in the lives of millions of Americans. Future candidates must be willing to engage with religious voters, even on contentious issues, and find common ground where possible,” he wrote.
Leading up to the election, The Christian Tribune reported on sentiment from conservative Catholics who labeled the Democratic Party as “anti-Christian” over its controversial policies. Catholic League President Bill Donohue sounded off on the left maintaining that Democrats have “gone off the deep end.”
“They’re anti-Christian, and it’s driving people out…And the guys I’m talking to, it’s not even so much abortion. It’s just they feel like they don’t speak their language anymore. This whole idea of letting men compete against women in sports abuses the bathrooms, they think they’ve just gone off the deep end.”
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