God-o-Meter just got this memo on John McCain’s Catholic support in Florida from John Rankin, communications director for Sam Brownback’s presidential campaign, who’s been helping McCain with outreach to religious conservatives:
McCain Wins Florida Catholic Vote by Ten Points
Wins both mass-attending and non-mass attending Catholics; striking difference seen between Catholic and Protestant vote
• Senator McCain scored an overwhelming 10-point victory among Florida Catholic voters, by a 38%-28% margin.
• Catholics turned out as 29% of all voters, which was increased turnout from the 2004 election, where Catholics were 28%.
• This was a large 16 point difference from McCain’s performance with Protestant voters, where he lost protestants to Romney by a margin of 35%-29%.
• Mike Huckabee’s support among Catholics collapsed, at only 4%.
McCain Wins Both Mass-Attending and Non-Mass Attending Catholics
• In a striking reversal from exit polling in Michigan (the only other state that exit polled mass attending vs. non-mass attending Catholics), Senator McCain won the mass-attending Catholic voter in Florida, 35%-30%.
• This was a complete reversal of Michigan, where Senator McCain lost mass-attending Catholics to Romney, 36%-41%.
• He also easily won non-mass attending Catholics, 40%-27%.
McCain Performed Exceptionally Well with Hispanic Catholics
• Senator McCain narrowly won the white Catholic vote (which was 21% of all Florida voters), by a margin 33%-32%.
• By inference, Hispanic Catholics are assumed to have been 8% of all Florida voters. Senator McCain performed exceptionally well to win the statewide Catholic vote by 10 points. Estimates would indicate that Senator McCain won the Hispanic Catholic vote by a margin of 2:1.
McCain Performed Poorly with White Born-Again Evangelicals
• Senator McCain finished third among white born-again Evangelicals, behind Huckabee and Romney.
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posted February 2, 2008 at 11:52 am
I’m a mass attending Catholic from Senator McCain’s home state and will NOT support him in the primary. “Charity begins at home” and I’m tired of supporting illegals, 3rd and 4th generation welfare families, while watching people who have paid into the system be unable to get help when they need it. His handling of the war is right on but not to crazy about his ideas on homeland security. As a nation we need to deport all illegals, be they here on expired work permits, overstayed Visas or border crossers. The heck with racial profiling or offending someone I’m more worried about OUR CITIZENS being taken advantage of or harmed. Americans in foreign countries could never get away with what illegals in America do. Where could an American go overseas and expect free medical care, shelter and handouts???????