Both former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have made a concerted outreach to Catholic voters during the campaign, especially in the Catholic-heavy swing states in the Mountain West and Midwest.

But in recent weeks, the Trump campaign has sharpened its focus and deployed its best Catholic surrogates to make a direct appeal, while the Harris campaign has eschewed Catholic outreach in favor of messaging on Trump’s character and the threat they believe he poses to democracy. And when her campaign has brushed up against American Catholicism, it has suffered missteps and miscalculations.