Back in August, a Washington Post-ABC poll showed Donald Trump trailing Hillary Clinton by 3 points among white Catholics. That caused considerable panic in Republican circles, because this was one of the few demographics that had been moving rightward over the last decade.
(To provide some perspective, even though he lost the overall Catholic vote to Obama 50%-48%, Romney won white Catholics by 19 points, 59-40%.)
But a new Washington Post-ABC poll shows a surge of white Catholic support for Donald Trump. Trump now leads Clinton 57-33% among white Catholics, a 24-point margin.
Trump 57% with white Catholics would be on-par with Romney’s 59% in 2012. But Hillary’s 33% would be a significant drop from Obama’s 40% mark four years ago. This would mean 1 in 6 white Catholics who supported Obama are not backing Hillary Clinton.
Back in August, the Washington Post suggested that “Donald Trump has a massive Catholic problem.”
But now it looks like Hillary Clinton is the one with a Catholic problem.
(A breakdown of the poll is below. More details from the poll here.)