White Catholics

The latest CBS/NYT poll, which has Obama ahead 47-42, shows McCain leading among white Catholics 48-41. In 2004, Bush won them over Kerry by almost double that margin, 56-43. In 2000, Bush took white Catholics by seven points, 52-45. Obama's deficit is now identical to Gore's. It's worth noting as well that Obama trails McCain among all white voters by the nearly identical margin of 41-49. It increasingly seems to be the case that white Catholics are the normative group for whites as a whole nationwide.