Party affiliation less likely to correlate to religion, poll shows

Published: 2004-09-14

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- It has been awhile since Catholic voters were reliably Democrats, but now a new poll that looks at political attitudes in relation to religion finds the reverse shift across party lines among Protestants. The fourth National Survey of Religion and Politics found that in the last dozen years Catholics have come close to being evenly divided between the Republican and Democratic parties, at 41 and 44 percent, respectively, up from 38 percent who were Republicans and 43 percent who were Democrats in 1992. The remainder of those surveyed said they were independents. Mainline Protestants, on the other hand, now are more likely to be Democrats than were Protestants 12 years ago, the poll found. Thirty-nine percent said they were Democrats and 44 percent identified themselves as Republicans, up from 32 percent and 50 percent, respectively, 12 years ago. The survey was conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics of the University of Akron, Ohio. Results were released Sept. 9 at a Washington press conference.

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