Religious Voters in the Election

Whilst looking at the demographics of the turnout for the election, I was interested to see that it was the Catholic followers who were considered the swing voters in Obama’s decisive victory. Out of the two candidates it was him as the Democrat who was able to draw in the majority of the religiously affiliated citizens, and this is where the biggest change from 4 years ago was seen.

The survey by PEW research forum shows how Catholics voted for Obama over McCain by a nine-point margin (54% to 45%), and it shows how this was a turnaround from 2004 when Catholics supported President Bush over Sen. John Kerry, by a five-point margin (52% to 47%). Alongside this the survey also shows how Obama had the majority of support from those who attend church more than once a week, and again this highlights another change from the previous election back in ‘04:

A news article I found in the Washington Times discusses how unexpected these results would have been six months ago, and it states how even Catholic followers themselves wouldn’t have predicted the outcome this way. The article goes on to talk about how well Obama did amongst Hispanic voters, and it shows how it was this demographic that probably enabled him to hold such a big margin in the exit polls. The article considers the Latino influence specifically as the one to play the primary role in the overall outcome, and it states how “Latino Catholics appear to have been decisive in flipping three states (New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada) from red to blue.”

Although those who are religiously unaffiliated also made up a large percentage of Obamas support, I personally think the fact that so many Catholics voted for him shows that his own religious affiliations didn’t play a large role in most individuals decisions. As there was constant rhetoric in the run up to the election that categorized him as a ‘Muslim’ and a ‘terrorist,’ many thought that religious individuals would end up going against him on Election Day, but obviously this wasn’t the case. Therefore, I think that not only does this show the strength of the American people not listen to the false rhetoric, but it also highlights how much trust and belief Americans must have in their President elect, as they believed his rhetoric, that he is indeed a Christian, who would do nothing to compromise the security of this country.

The surveys can be found on the PEW research site which is http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=367 and the Washington Times article can be found at http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/07/catholic-voters-heavily-favored-obama-analysis-sho/