![]() | Religion And Yesterday’s Democratic Primaries |
Exit polls from yesterday’s Democratic presidential primaries indicate that the impact of religious identity varies from state to state. In Vermont, there was no strong religious pattern, according to frequency of church attendance, in preference for either Clinton or Obama. In Rhode Island, Hillary Clinton got her strongest support among those voters who attend church weekly, whereas Barack Obama got his strongest support among those voters who never attend church.
In Texas, the trend was weaker, but Barack Obama did get his strongest support among the super-churchy, those who go to church more than one time per week. In Ohio, like Texas and Vermont, there was not any strong pattern.
It’s hard to draw a conclusion from this information, other to say that, except for occasional local blips of activity, as in Rhode Island, churches did not serving as valuable campaign resources in yesterday’s primary elections. Sending Bill and Chelsea Clinton to Joel Osteen’s church in Houston, or having Reverend Joe King declare the Obama campaign to be “in Jesus’s name” is not an effective way of persuading church members to vote in one way or another.




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However, in both Texas and Ohio, Catholics broke for Clinton. Go figure.
Comment by Vynce — 3/5/2008 @ 11:56 am
Broken Catholics for Clinton?
Comment by Fruktata — 3/5/2008 @ 1:00 pm
(heh. actually, most of the broken catholics I know are not Clinton fans, but your survey may vary)
Comment by Vynce — 3/5/2008 @ 1:43 pm
I thought that was “practicing” Catholics, which would be mainly women. Also might be mainly blue collar, so the Catholic demographic might be a red herring.
Comment by Iroquois — 3/5/2008 @ 6:41 pm