Religious Communality and Party Preference

Abstract

A tradition of religious voting in the U.S. has been maintained to the present day. Since it is highly improbable that religious voting is an extension of doctrinal differences among the laity, and since major class differences among religious groups have been reduced or eliminated, other possible sources of the relationship between religion and party preference must be probed. It is hypothesized that a person's degree of involvement in his religious community is positively related to the chance that he will prefer the traditional majority party within his religious group regardless of social class position. The effect of religious communality on party preference must also be independent of political socialization proper, another important determinant of political values. Analysis of data collected on samples of white Protestants and Mormons supported the hypothesis, but the major hypothesis was not sustained in the case of Catholics.