Today the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics released its National Survey on Religion and Public Life. The poll gauged the attitudes of 3,002 Americans, belonging to 18 different religious groupings, about their political attitudes, affiliations and preferences.
Researchers from the Calvin College-based Institute identified respondents as members of a particular faith community and then asked a series of questions concerning issues of public policy. Participants were also asked to identify the presidential candidate they are most likely to support in the general election.
The conclusions of the national survey were largely unsurprising. Faith will continue to play a significant role in the political landscape through this year’s election, and congregants have a tendency to vote in a similar fashion to other traditionalists, centrists or modernists, regardless of denomination.
Director of the Henry Institute and study leader Corwin E. Smidt spoke at the National Press Club this morning and focused attention on the attitudinal shifts of mainline Protestants and Evangelicals.
According to the study, mainline Protestants in 2008 have moved away from the GOP and are now more likely to self-identify as Democrats (46 percent) as opposed to Republicans (37 percent). Evangelical Protestants, however, have been moving in the opposite direction. They favored the Republican Party over the Democratic Party 48 percent to 32 percent in 1992, but now lean Republican 54 percent to 25 percent.
While the statistics, similar to those from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life U.S. Religious Landscape Survey of 2007, seem to be generally indicative of 2008 voting patterns like those of 2004, one question raised an issue of particular importance to advocates of church-state separation.
The Henry Institute asked survey participants whether clergy should endorse political candidates from the pulpit. A majority of Americans, across the board, found the practice to be inappropriate.
Fifty-seven percent said clergy should not “be permitted to endorse political candidates during worship services.” Only 28 percent said they should (with 15 percent offering no opinion).
Among Evangelicals, 55 percent opposed pulpit partisanship, while only 29 supported it. Among Catholics, the figures were even farther apart, with 66 percent taking a stand against church electioneering and only 23 percent supporting it.
With the Alliance Defense Fund and other Religious Right groups pressing clergy to violate federal tax law and endorse candidates from the pulpit, it’s good to know the American public won’t say amen to that reckless scheme.
By Ilana Stern
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