By Kate Scanlon
WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Former President Donald Trump Sept. 4 launched his campaign’s Catholics for Trump coalition in a bid to reach Catholic voters. A recent survey indicated Catholic voters currently lean toward Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
In a press release, the Trump-Vance campaign said the Republican nominee “announces ‘Catholics for Trump,’ a coalition committed to safeguarding the vital principles of religious liberty and defending family values that President Donald J. Trump has ardently championed.”
The website for the coalition claims Trump “did more for Catholics than any administration in history,” touting the Department of Health and Human Services’ creation of a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division when he was in office and “stronger enforcement of legal protections for Americans with religious and moral objections to certain health care services,” as well as the White House’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative to advise the White House on faith-based concerns and find ways to partner with faith-based organizations.
The website touts that Trump was the first president to address the annual March for Life in person. But some political observers noted that appointing three Supreme Court justices who later voted to overturn Roe. v Wade, the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide, including two Catholics, was not mentioned on the website as an accomplishment.
An original version of the website featured an image of Trump and his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, under a mural of art by alleged abuser Father Marko Rupnik. But that image was later changed to a picture of the then-first couple at the Vatican.
Matt Schlapp, who co-chaired the Catholics for Trump campaign group in 2020, was listed as among the coalition’s members with his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, who worked in the Trump administration.
In a joint statement, the couple said, “President Trump will continue to defend our religious freedoms, and our values enshrined in faith and family.”
“His leadership is needed more now than ever before because he understands that American families are the pillars of a strong society,” they added.
In another possible sign the Trump campaign is seeking Catholic voters, Trump appeared to acknowledge the church’s celebration of the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Sept. 8 — the church marks Mary’s birthday that day on the Roman calendar, because it is nine months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8. Trump wrote “Happy Birthday Mary!” accompanied by an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in a post on his social media website Truth Social.
Catholic experts who have spoken with OSV News have alternately drawn points of agreement and tension between the platforms of Harris and Trump with respect to Catholic social teaching, on issues ranging from abortion and in vitro fertilization to immigration to labor and climate.
A “Catholics for Harris” page on the Democratic candidate’s website at press time showed a volunteer sign-up form.
An EWTN News/RealClear Opinion Research survey of Catholic U.S. voters — conducted Aug. 28-30 — found 50% of Catholic voters plan to support Harris for president, while 43% said they planned to support Trump, with another 6% undecided. Among Hispanic Catholics, 59% said they plan to support Harris, while 30% plan to support Trump.
When undecided Catholic voters were asked which candidate they lean toward, Harris’ overall support increased to 54%, and Trump to 45%.
Election Day is Nov. 5.