While some have attributed Senator Clinton’s lead among Catholics to her success among Hispanic voters, she won the majority of white Catholics’ votes in Ohio and Rhode Island.
Senator Obama won the Catholic vote in Vermont, but with a thin margin of victory. Obama supporters note that he has won some states with sizable Catholic populations, such as Missouri and Louisiana.
Obama's director of religious affairs, Joshua DuBois, downplayed concerns about the senator’s low support among Catholics. DuBois said the campaign would be "aggressively and robustly reaching out to Catholics" in coming weeks.
"There's no concern there, because this introduction is just getting started," DuBois said, according to the New York Sun, "and as more and more Catholics get to know who Senator Obama is and what he stands for, we are 100% confident that he will be the candidate for Catholic voters, not just in the primary but on into the general election."
Obama’s campaign has actively reached out to Catholic Democrats. In February Senator Obama sent a letter to thousands of nuns across the country. The campaign also held several “community faith forums” in Ohio, including two directed at Catholic voters. The forums featured former Indiana congressman Timothy Roemer and Victoria Kennedy, the wife of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.
The reasons for Senator Clinton’s success among Catholic Democrats are unclear. "We've not picked up anybody who says, 'I'm a Catholic, and I'm voting for Hillary,'" said political scientist G. Terry Madonna, who directs the Franklin and Marshall Poll in Pennsylvania.