Former President Trump is polling ahead of Vice President Harris among Catholic voters in swing states, a new poll released Monday found.
Roughly 50 percent of Catholics living in battleground states said they supported Trump, compared to 45 percent who backed Harris, a National Catholic Reporter (NCR) poll found.
Trump had a notably wide lead in Wisconsin, where he polled ahead of Harris among Catholics by 18 points, and Michigan, where he edged out the vice president by 12 points.
Harris had a wide lead over Trump among Latino and Black Catholic voters in swing states, with 67 percent of Latino Catholics and 77 percent of Black Catholics backing her. The GOP nominee, meanwhile, led his Democratic rival by 16 points among white Catholics in swing states, the survey shows.
Abortion is an issue that could sway Catholics this cycle, as the church considers the procedure to be murder. Catholic voters split in 2020 with half supporting Trump and half supporting President Biden, who is only the second Catholic president in U.S. history.
The poll found that 51 percent of Catholics in swing states consider themselves pro-life and 45 percent agreed with the former president’s softening stance on abortion. Trump has said he would veto a national abortion ban. The poll also found the 58 percent of Catholics in swing states think abortion should be legal.
Additionally, the survey shows Trump leading among older Catholic swing state voters, 45-years-old and above, by 8 points. Harris, however, has an edge among Catholic swing state voters 24-years-old and below, leading her GOP challenger by 7 points.
The two were tied among Catholic swing state voters ages 44 to 24, according to the poll.
The NCR poll was conducted between Oct. 3-8 and included 1,172 Catholic voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It has a margin of error is plus or minus 2.86 percentage points.
