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Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

September 15, 2020

What’s Faith Got To Do With It?

Reporters on Faith and the Faithful in the 2020 Presidential Election

In an election cycle with surprising religious themes and after political party conventions full of religious appeals, the Initiative brought together top reporters and experts at the intersection of faith and the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

These journalists shared their reporting and insights on how religious values and voters are shaping the election, along with the ways major party candidates President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden and their campaigns are reaching out. The online conversation looked forward to potential outcomes and their implications for religion, democracy, and the common good.

In addition, the dialogue opened with a summary and analysis of the latest polling on religious voters and trends from Pew Research Center.

John Carr, director of the Initiative, moderated the conversation.

Resources

View a list of articles, books, and other resources for this dialogue.

This Public Dialogue was part of the Initiative’s Faith and the Faithful series and was supported by the Democracy Fund.

Participants

Carl Cannon

Carl Cannon

Carl Cannon is the Washington bureau chief of RealClearPolitics and executive editor of RealClear Media Group. He was a fellow-in-residence at Harvard University's Institute of Politics and is a past president of the White House Correspondents’ Association.

Kelsey Dallas

Kelsey Dallas

Kelsey Dallas is the national religion reporter and InDepth content manager for Deseret News where she covers the intersection of faith and politics, the Trump administration's religious freedom policies, and Supreme Court cases.

Jack Jenkins

Jack Jenkins

Jack Jenkins is a national reporter for Religion News Service covering religion and politics and the author of American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country (2020).

Elizabeth Podrebarac Sciupac

Elizabeth Podrebarac Sciupac

Elizabeth Podrebarac Sciupac is a senior researcher at Pew Research Center, where she contributes to domestic religion polls. She will open the dialogue with Pew’s recent data on religious voters and the election.

Eugene Scott

Eugene Scott

Eugene Scott is a ​political reporter for the Washington Post’s The Fix, a former fellow at Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service, and a former breaking news reporter for CNN Politics.

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