The vast majority of faculty and staff members from the nation’s top Catholic universities donated to President Barack Obama’s campaign over Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s this cycle, according to a new report.
Ninety-one percent of the employees at 23 different Catholic schools gave to Obama, according to Federal Elections Commission data available on OpenSecrets.org and analyzed by the conservative college site Campus Reform.
Much has been made of Obama’s Affordable Care Act mandate requiring employers to provide contraception coverage, a requirement that church officials say conflicts with Catholic religious doctrine, and which has resulted in lawsuits on the part of Catholic organizations. Still, the faculty and staff at these Catholic colleges strongly favored Obama, donating $449,229 to Obama compared to $70,304 to Romney.
Campus Reform’s analysis found that of the 826 faculty who donated over $200 to either the Obama or Romney campaigns, 748 gave to Obama campaign compared to 78 who donated to Romney.
Catholics overall also voted for Obama over Romney this cycle 50 percent to Romney’s 48 percent, according to exit polls.
Nevertheless, Catholic pro-life organizations expressed outrage over the donations. i
Catholic League president Bill Donohue told Campus Reform that Catholic universities have strayed from their principles.
“The difference between Boston College and Boston University, and between Georgetown and George Washington, is miniscule,” Donahue explained. “Indeed, at Georgetown they have two pro-abortion clubs on campus.”
“They would never allow an anti-Semitic club (nor should they) but they have no problem supporting abortion,” he added. “The pope and Cardinal Dolan know there is a serious problem, and they deserve our support.”
According to Campus Reform’s analysis, 100 percent of the donations from faculty and staff members Santa Clara University, College of the Holy Cross, Loyola University Maryland, University of Dallas, and the University of Portland went to Obama. Of the schools surveyed, Villanova had the smallest percentage of donations going to the president’s re-election bid at 87 percent.
This story was updated after publication to reflect that Campus Reform has corrected its list of schools whose faculty and staff contributed exclusively to the Obama campaign. That list no longer includes Thomas Aquinas College.