Chart: Vote by religious affiliation

[ProSense]

This Week in God

By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a look at the 2012 presidential election, and the differences along religious lines. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life published a report this week based on exit polling data, and I put together a chart based on its findings.



There's a fair amount of interesting data here, though the results among Roman Catholic voters are arguably the most electorally significant. In every recent cycle, Catholics have been considered a key swing constituency, particularly throughout Midwest battleground states, and President Obama narrowly won their support, 50% to 48%. It suggests Republicans' efforts to focus on contraception and reproductive rights had limited success, and the Bishops' lobbying largely fell on deaf ears.

Also note, while many on the right hoped 2012 would be the year that Jewish voters abandoned Democrats, that didn't come close to happening. Though Obama fared slightly worse among Jewish voters as compared to 2008, he still enjoyed overwhelming support.

For the purposes of classification, "Other faiths" became a catch-all for a variety of minority religious traditions -- Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and others -- which on their own represent a very small percentage of the voting population. Their support for the GOP remains dismal.

And continue to keep an eye on the religiously unaffiliated -- one of the fastest growing segments of the faith population -- which includes atheists, agnostics, and theists who choose not to associate with any specific tradition. Their lopsided support for Obama reinforces yet another demographic problem for Republicans in the coming years.

- more -

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/10/15073187-this-week-in-god

[enough]

1. I see no place on that chart for "mainstream" Protestants, who must be

the majority of US voters. I'd be curious to see that breakdown.

[ProSense]

2. Here's the chart from Pew:

http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/How-the-Faithful-Voted-2012-Preliminary-Exit-Poll-Analysis.aspx

[enough]

3. Hey thanks, there's a lot of interesting info there. (nt)

[amandabeech]

4. That doesn't explain why the chart in Rachel's blog excludes us.

The chart shows us as a declining percentage of the voting public, but we're only 2 percentage points behind white Roman Catholics.

Among my family and acquaintances, many people who are now not religious were brought up in Protestant churches but fell away, including my Dad. Despite his lack of faith until very late in his life, the Protestant (Congregational) upbringing did show in his values and behavior.