VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — With Labor Day behind them, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are pushing ahead in top presidential battlegrounds in the South.
Trump, the Republican nominee, is set to campaign in Virginia and North Carolina on Tuesday, two critical states in his path to the presidency. Clinton, the Democrat, is campaigning in Florida in search of an advantage in the nation's largest swing state. A Clinton victory in Florida would make it virtually impossible for Trump to overcome her advantage in the race for 270 electoral votes.
If you do an online search for "Donald Trump Catholic problem," you'll see the media has run this story everywhere; post and tweet, rinse and repeat. See, e.g., National Review, July 18: "Donald Trump's Catholic problem"; Forbes, Aug. 23: "Trump has a Catholic problem"; Patch.com, Aug. 29: "Donald Trump's Catholic Problem"; New York Magazine, Aug. 30: "Trump has a Catholic problem. But how bad is it?"; and The Washington Post, Aug. 30: "Donald Trump has a massive Catholic problem."
Catholic voters are kind of like "moderate" Republican primary candidates: The media loves to trot them out while they're useful. But once that's done, the long knives come out. Thus, for a group that despises Donald Trump the way the press does, Catholics suddenly become a terribly important constituency. (Once the presidential election is over, Catholics' pesky opposition to abortion, assisted suicide and sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage will again make them anathema.)
