Catholic Patterns in the American Left

Abstract

This chapter explores the dynamics of progressive Catholicism in contemporary American politics. Since the early 2000s, Democrats, alongside followers of the Church’s social movement and other faithful activists, have attempted to build an electoral coalition of religious liberals. If Donald Trump’s presidency, dominated by an aggressive Christian nationalism, seemed to dash these hopes of a “Religious Left”, Joe Biden’s election has offered a cautious sense of relief to progressive religious Americans, as the Democratic president extensively relies on Catholic social teaching to advance his policy agenda. The chapter first retraces the genealogy of the Catholic Left, from the early twentieth century to its resurgence at the forefront of national politics over the past two decades. The contribution then focuses on Trump’s and Biden’s presidencies, and assesses to what extent, in the context of broader demographic changes, Catholics and other religious liberals can actually remain relevant actors for the political Left.