Religion & The GOP Go Hand In Hand

The good folks at the Gallup organization have decided to play Captain Obvious. A recent poll they completed tells us something that most people in this country already knew -- that the more religious a person is (in christianity), the more likely they will be a Republican. The poll was conducted between January 2008 and May 2011 of 30,000 adults nationwide, and has a margin of error of only 1 point.

Now one might think this would give Republicans a big advantage since most Americans claim to be christians. But that's not necessarily true. It is only the very religious that show more of a propensity to be Republican. Both those who call themselves moderately religious and those who claim to be not religious are more likely to be Democrats. Here are the numbers for all three groups:

VERY RELIGIOUS
Republican...............48%
Independent...............13%
Democrat...............38%

MODERATELY RELIGIOUS
Republican...............37%
Independent...............16%
Democrat...............45%

NON-RELIGIOUS
Republican...............29%
Independent...............16%
Democrat...............54%

My only surprise with this poll is that only 48% of the very religious call themselves Republicans and 54% of the non-religious call themselves Democrats. I would have expected both of those figures to be higher.