Party Preference In U.S. Has A Religious Connection

The chart above was made from a recently released Gallup Poll. The survey questioned 87,023 randomly selected national adults between January 2008 and June 2014, and it has a margin of error of only 1 point. The chart shows the connection between religious intensity and political party preference.

Poll respondents were grouped into three categories -- very religious, moderately religious, and not religious. Among the entire population, those who said they were very religious tended to be Republican by a 13 point gap (49% to 36%). But those who are only moderately religious preferred the Democratic Party by 6 points (38% to 44%), and the non-religious showed a large propensity to be Democrats, by about 23 points (29% to 52%).

But the most interesting part of this survey is that this effect of religiosity upon party preference is only true of Whites. Very religious Whites preferred the Republican Party by 39 points (64% to 25%) and moderately religious Whites preferred to be identified as Republican by 16 points (51% to 35%). Non-religious Whites showed an 18 point preference for Democrats (33% to 51%).

But it was only among Whites that this religious intensity mattered. There was no statistical difference between very religious, moderately religious, or non-religious Blacks. That all identified with the Democratic Party by huge margins. And it wasn't much different for Hispanics and Asians. Both groups preferred Democrats regardless of religious intensity, with only a slight lessening of that preference among the very religious.

So, while religious intensity is a factor in political party preference in the United States, it is primarily among Whites where this seems to matter. Minorities prefer the Democratic Party regardless of religious intensity. And those who are non-religious prefer the Democratic Party regardless of race or religious intensity (even among Whites).