ABSTRACT
The results of the 1980 election lend support to Scott Greer's theory that the movement of Catholics out of the working class and lower-middle class would lead them toward Republican alliance. There can be no doubt that America's Catholic community has undergone a political sea change in 1980s. What is very much at issue is whether the change is permanent, and whether the changes among Catholics differ much from those in the country as a whole. The difficulty for the Democrats is that their party was victorious in the past when it won overwhelming majorities within blocs of minorities, particularly Catholic. The Democrats still have major opportunities to restore clear majorities among Catholics—even if Catholic Democratic voting is never likely to approach the levels reached by Al Smith or John Kennedy. If Jimmy Carter had won just those Reagan-voting Catholics who supported Democratic congressional candidates, he would have won a substantial Democratic majority.
