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Title: Papal Polls: Parochial High Schools and Catholic Voting Patterns in Detroit, 1960-1972

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 2018

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Abstract: This thesis examines the intersection of religious identity, education, partisanship and community institutions through a case study of Catholic voting patterns in Detroit from 1960 to 1972. I build off prior literature investigating the decline in Democratic Party loyalty among American Catholics to situate the mobilizing role of Catholic parishes as a missing link between demographic and voting trends. By creating a model with fifty-one neighborhoods that combined precinct-level presidential election data, demographic data from the census, and the locations of Catholic high schools in Detroit, I argue that the presence of Catholic high schools acted as a moderating force to stem the tide of suburbanization and diverging Catholic voting patterns. With open Catholic high schools as a proxy for parish power and influence, I find strong evidence that parishes with Catholic high schools prevented white flight from those neighborhoods and inhibited the sharp decline in Democratic voting experienced by Catholics nationwide.

Url: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/147367/kellycj.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

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Authors: Kelly, Collin

Institution: The University of Michigan

Department: Department of Political Science

Advisor: John Cantu

Degree: degree with honors of Bachelor of Arts

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Pages: 102

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Other

Countries: United States