“Thank you, and God bless America.”
This sentiment has been the farewell line of many a stump speech from politicians with a variety of religious backgrounds, and as we inch closer to the first official faceoff of the 2016 presidential primaries — the Iowa caucuses — candidates are pushing their messages increasingly harder.
One result of that push has been seeing Republican front-runner Donald Trump espousing his Presbyterian faith in an attempt to gain the favor of evangelical Christian voters, calling the Bible his favorite book and quoting “two Corinthians” during a speech at a university.
But in a country built on the merits of keeping personal faith beliefs out of public-sector decision-making, why does religion still figure so prominently in political campaigns?
Amanda Friesen, a Ph.D. who teaches in the Department of Political Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), has a particular interest in how religion and politics intersect.
Friesen said though there is variability, evidence shows one’s religious affiliation can influence their political affiliation and even their likelihood of civic engagement.
“There are a few ways to think about that. Religion can play a role when it comes to identity, so if you are a Catholic and, let’s say you’re Irish-Catholic, you belong to a group identity that can lead you to be affiliated with a certain political party,” Friesen said. “The other piece can be sometimes people’s religious beliefs lead them to have certain political ideology.”
Add race into the mix, and the formula becomes even more complex. Friesen said if a voter comes to a choice between voting in line with their faith or voting in line with their ideology, the latter tends to win out.
“If you think about African-Americans and Latino/Hispanic Americans, they’re sometime just as religious and just as conservative theologically as white Christians, but they will align with the Democratic Party because of other issues that are important to them,” she said. “Those groups have a lot invested in getting Democratic candidates elected … because Democrats have traditionally been more empathetic to concerns that affect (minority) communities.”
Data from the 2012 Presidential Election, pitting incumbent Barack Obama against Republican opponent Mitt Romney, showed a clear racial divide in preferences among Protestants.
Romney was more highly favored (by a small margin) among all Protestant voters, and he kept that slight edge among white mainline Protestants. But looking just at voting white evangelical Protestants shows a huge difference — Nov. 3, 2012, polling numbers show 75 percent of white evangelical Protestants favored Romney, compared to just 18 percent for Obama. The inverse is true to an even stronger degree with Black Protestant voters, who leaned toward Obama 92 percent of the time and Romney 3 percent of the time.
Friesen said it’s not simple to nail down exactly how all the factors of one’s identity come into play at the polls, but during primary season it’s especially clear that ideology matters. When looking at a slate of candidates with the same or similar religious beliefs — such as the 2016 Republican slate — voters must turn to ideology to find what differentiates the candidates from one another.
But then in the case of Donald Trump, a candidate with plenty of ideology to go around is now backtracking to fill in the faith blanks.
“What’s interesting about that is Donald Trump has been a household name for 20 years or so, and I don’t know if in any of that time anyone would’ve said, ‘Donald Trump is pretty religious, God is really important to him.’ Now he’s in Iowa, talking about being Presbyterian,” Friesen said.
Still, Friesen reiterated ideology tends to trump faith, saying if the voter didn’t already agree with Trump’s ideas, the fact that he’s highlighting his religious affiliation is unlikely to sway the vote. And if Trump hadn’t “come out” as a devout Presbyterian, “(supporters are) going to find a way to make an excuse around (the lack of demonstrated faith), because he expresses beliefs that they agree with.”
Friesen said she saw similar trends in voting numbers for Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon.
“Most evangelical Christians consider the Church of Latter-day Saints a type of cult and not a part of the general Christian protestant tradition, yet many of them were willing to vote for him.”
Perhaps more important than what faith tradition a candidate follows is that they follow a faith tradition at all.
“Americans are very uncomfortable voting for an atheist — they would rather vote for a Muslim,” Friesen said. “There is this fear of a person who doesn’t have a belief system, even though we want people to be able to separate their beliefs from what is the best thing for policy or the country.”
Another major role organized religion plays in politics is in mobilizing communities to act. Religious institutions are able to educate members on candidates, organize events and more. Church also plays a role in connecting people to like-minded individuals who might then encourage political involvement. Friesen said people who belong to a church and are active in their faith communities are more likely to be engaged in the overall community, including in political realms.
Presidential candidates’ faiths
Republican Party
Jeb Bush — Roman Catholic (converted from Episcopalian)
Ben Carson — Seventh-day Adventist
Chris Christie — Roman Catholic
Ted Cruz — Southern Baptist
Carly Fiorina — Christian
Jim Gilmore — Methodist
Mike Huckabee — Southern Baptist
John Kasich — Anglican (converted from Catholicism)
Rand Paul — Presbyterian (converted from Episcopalian)
Marco Rubio — Roman Catholic
Rick Santorum — Roman Catholic
Donald Trump — Presbyterian
Democratic Party
Hillary Clinton — Methodist
Martin O’Malley — Roman Catholic
Bernie Sanders — Jewish
