Craig Gilbert crunches the numbers. This is bad and overreaching policy, and it’s surely bad politics. It’s is an unforced error, and never should have happened this year. Many who support a contraception requirement were already going to vote for Pres. Obama; it’s some of those who don’t support a requirement who were in play, and who make a difference on the margins:
If requiring Catholic universities and hospitals to cover contraception for employees ends up hurting President Obama with Catholic voters, then Wisconsin is one place to keep an eye on.
That’s because it’s one of the most Catholic of the presidential swing states.
Among this year’s likely electoral battlegrounds, only New Hampshire (38%) and New Mexico (36%) had a higher percentage of Catholic voters than Wisconsin (33%) in 2008, according to exit polls….
Via Obama, the Catholic vote, and the contraception mandate – JSOnline.