Washington D.C., Feb 7, 2008 / 16:02 pm
Catholic voters backed Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona and Democrat Senator Hillary Clinton of New York in many Super Tuesday presidential primaries and caucuses for their respective parties, according to news reports.
Deal W. Hudson of InsideCatholic.com reported that exit polling on the Catholic vote was done in 10 of the 22 GOP primary states. Of those states, Sen. McCain won over Catholics in eight while former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who left the presidential race on Thursday, attracted the Catholic vote only in Georgia and his home state, Massachusetts. Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, an outspoken Evangelical Protestant, attracted little Catholic support.
In the key state of Missouri, Hudson reports, Sen. McCain won the Catholic vote by 25 points—46 % to Romney’s 21 %. Fifty four percent of religiously active Catholics in Missouri went for McCain, compared to 24 % who voted for Huckabee and 20 % who voted for Romney.
The Catholic vote also went to McCain in the critical California race, where he attracted 41 % of Catholic Republican voters.