Study Shows Religion May Be Contributing to Unprecedented Political Divide
June 15, 2017 by David G. McAfee

People in the United States might be more politically divided than any other time in recent memory, but what’s causing it? According to a new study, religious groups could be a part of the problem.

Researchers found that religious leaders are even more politically divided than the majority of Americans — including people in their own congregations — with certain denominations (such as Unitarians and Reform Jews) leaning extremely Democratic and others (such as evangelical Christians and Baptists) considered “overwhelmingly republican.”

The authors of the survey, called Partisan Pastor: The Politics of 130,000 American Religious Leaders, also noted that congregational religious leaders are “elite influencers” that affect the attitudes and behaviors of ordinary Americans.

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In spite of a decline in religious attendance and affiliation in recent years, it is still the case that millions of Americans attend weekly church services. At these services, and in pastoral duties throughout the week, congregational leaders probably have more opportunity than any other group of professionals in the U.S. to set political agendas, mobilize action, and influence opinion. Moreover, when religious communities make consequential political decisions — for example whether to provide sanctuary to undocumented immigrants — it is largely up to the clergy to decide how to act.
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The survey was carried out by Eitan D. Hersh, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale, and Gabrielle Malina, a doctoral candidate in government at Harvard. They matched up the names of Christian and Jewish leaders to voter registration records in order to create “the largest compilation of religious leaders ever assembled.”