Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 5, 2024 / 16:30 pm
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said that Catholic voters and Pennsylvania voters will be key to the 2024 presidential and down-ballot elections during a brief interview with EWTN News in Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.
“President [Donald] Trump … takes [the Catholic vote] very seriously,” Johnson told EWTN News’ Mark Irons in an Election Day interview while greeting voters outside of the Farmersville Elementary School in the Bethlehem suburb.
The speaker said the Catholic voting bloc is “absolutely” important to this year’s election outcome.
“[Trump] often asks me, ‘Will the Catholics like this? Will the evangelicals like this?’” Johnson continued. “… He wants to make sure that they understand that he’s the one fighting for their principles.”
Johnson said that Trump was “the greatest president we’ve had in the modern era with regard to issues like religious freedom and family values and the things that our people care about.” He said “we have to defend the faith in the court of public opinion” and contrasted the Republican Party’s approach to faith with the Democratic Party’s approach.
“The Democratic Party has taken a far-left turn,” Johnson said. “And when they’re Marxist in their ideology, remember, Marxism begins with the premise that there is no God. And so this really is a contrast between two completely different worldviews, two different visions for who we are as a nation and who we’re going to be. And President Trump gets that.”
Recent polling has shown the Catholic vote nearly evenly divided. A September Pew Research Center survey found that about 52% of Catholics support Trump and 47% back Vice President Kamala Harris. A poll conducted by National Catholic Reporter found that Catholics in the most tightly contested swing states preferred Trump, with the former president polling 50% to Harris’ 45%.
Both Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have courted Catholic voters toward the end of the election. In late October, Trump said Harris was “destructive to Christianity” and that Catholics are “treated worse than anybody.” In the same week, Vance penned an op-ed for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that accused Harris of consistent “prejudice against Catholics.”
The campaign’s push for Catholic voters escalated after Harris refused to attend the Al Smith charity dinner. The dinner, hosted by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York, is traditionally attended by both major party presidential candidates in election years.
Johnson’s Election Day visit to Pennsylvania reflects the focus both parties have put on the Keystone State. Polls show the two candidates nearly tied in the commonwealth with 19 Electoral College delegates up for grabs.
“I think what happens in Pennsylvania decides the fate of America,” Johnson told EWTN.
“That’s why there’s so much attention being paid here,” the speaker added. “… We have key seats that we’re trying to flip for the Republican Party.”
Johnson noted that both Trump and Vance have campaigned in Pennsylvania several times in the past month: “[There’s] a lot of energy, a lot of time, a lot of attention being paid here because it matters that much.”
Bethlehem Township is located in the Northampton County battleground, which President Joe Biden won in 2020 and Trump won in 2016.
When asked whether the election would be certified regardless of who wins, Johnson said: “Of course.”
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“We’re going to follow the Constitution,” he added, saying there’s “too much emotion, too much misinformation out there” and “everybody needs to calm down.”
“Let’s do our civic duty,” Johnson continued. “Let’s have an American election and then it’ll be certified. I think it’s going to be too big to rig. I think President Trump’s going to win today, and I think we’re going to win the Senate and the House.”
Tyler Arnold is a staff reporter for Catholic News Agency, based in EWTN News’ Washington Bureau. He previously worked at The Center Square and has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative, and The Federalist.
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