Catholic engagement in the 2024 U.S. presidential election shifted in measurable ways, and newly released data help explain why those changes matter for the Church’s public witness. According to the Pew Research Center’s validated-voter study issued June 26, “about 22% of those who voted in the 2024 election and cast their ballot for President Donald Trump were Catholic,” highlighting Catholics’ continued weight in national politics.
Pew’s researchers matched nearly 9,000 members of their American Trends Panel against three commercial voter files—one Republican-leaning, one Democratic-leaning, and one non-partisan—to confirm each participant’s turnout history across five general elections. By comparing those records with the respondents’ own survey answers, the study offers a rare look at how reliably self-described Catholics voted, how often they switched parties, and which issues seemed to matter most.
The numbers show that Trump “had support from the majority of voting Catholics, with 55% casting their vote for him,” while 43% chose Vice-President Kamala Harris. That 12-point spread marks a notable break from 2020, when the Catholic vote was almost evenly divided. Part of the difference came from movement within the flock itself: Pew found that “7% of Catholic voters” who had backed Joe Biden in 2020 switched to Trump in 2024, whereas “only 4% of Catholics who favored Trump” four years earlier crossed over to Harris this time.
Attendance at Mass and other worship services also correlated with support for the Republican candidate. Among Americans who report going to church at least monthly, 64% voted for Trump—up five percentage points from 2020—while just 34% supported Harris. The pattern held across the broader Christian landscape: “about 80% of [Trump’s] voters identified as Christian, compared with only about half of Harris voters,” according to the report.
Ethnicity factored into the Catholic surge as well. Trump’s share of the Hispanic vote grew steadily over all three of his campaigns—“28% in 2016, 36% in 2020, and 48% in 2024.” Naturalized citizens followed a similar arc, with Trump gaining nine points among foreign-born voters between the last two elections. Overall, “85% of Trump’s 2020 voters cast their ballot for him again in 2024,” underscoring a high degree of loyalty within his Catholic base.
For pastors, parish councils, and Catholic civic-engagement ministries, Pew’s findings raise practical questions. The data suggest that regular sacramental life may shape political choices more than demographic labels alone, and that outreach to Hispanic and immigrant Catholics could prove decisive in future elections. Understanding those dynamics now will help Church leaders accompany the faithful—whatever their partisan leanings—before the next national campaign begins in earnest.
