Denver, Colo., Aug 24, 2008 / 12:46 pm
Recent polls show that Sen. Barack Obama is trailing in support among white Catholic voters by 11 points. On Saturday morning, Sen. Obama announced that he had chosen Sen. Joseph Biden as his running mate, even though the senator from Delaware has a record of supporting abortion, which the Catholic Church opposes.
The Obama campaign finds itself battling for the Catholic vote with a Zogby/Reuters poll from last week showing Obama garnering support from 36 percent of white Catholics. ABC News’ most recent polling shows McCain beating Obama among registered white Catholic voters 50 to 39 percent.
As CNA reported earlier this month, Zogby analyst Fritz Wenzel attributes this gap to the two candidates’ positions on social issues. “Catholics vote largely on a set of conservative values and on social values,” said Wenzel. “On social values McCain has a natural advantage because of his pro-life stance, compared to Obama’s pro-choice stance.”
Nevertheless, Obama has picked Joe Biden, a self-described strong supporter of Roe v. Wade, as his vice presidential candidate.