Americans Wary of Church Involvement in Partisan Politics
On Sunday, more than two dozen pastors delivered sermons discussing the presidential candidates as a protest against a tax-code restriction on church political endorsements. The next day, a church-state watchdog group filed complaints with the Internal Revenue Service based on the political content of six of these sermons. Whatever the legal merits of the protest and the complaints, and regardless of the eventual outcome, an August survey shows that many Americans clearly are uncomfortable with churches participating in partisan politics. Read the report »
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Candidate Preferences of Religious Voters Similar to 2004, But Economy a Higher Priority
A summer 2008 survey by the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron found a "remarkable stability" in the candidate preferences of major religious groups when compared with those at a similar stage of the 2004 campaign. Pew Forum Senior Fellow and Bliss Institute Director John Green, who led the survey, answers questions about the survey findings and what they might mean for the fall campaign. Read the Q&A »
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Graphic Update: Trends in Presidential Candidate Preferences Among Religious Groups
A graphic depicting trends among registered voters over time now includes data from a Sept. 27-29 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and shows that Barack Obama has achieved a significant lead over John McCain. The graphic also shows that Obama holds a large lead among both black Protestants and those who are unaffiliated with any particular religion, but he continues to struggle among white non-Hispanic Catholics. McCain remains the choice of most white evangelical Protestant voters, while white mainline Protestants are now evenly divided between McCain and Obama. View the graphic »
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Resource Page on the Issue of Abortion
New
additions to the Pew Forum's resource page on abortion include an
overview of the issue, a look at abortion laws around the world,
religious groups' official positions on abortion and Q&As that
explore religious arguments for and against abortion rights. Go to the resource page »
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Do Religious Voters See Palin as Well-Informed?
In advance of Thursday night's vice-presidential debate, a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds that religious voters differ in whether they think the Republican nominee is well-informed. For example, nearly two-thirds of white evangelical voters (65%) say they think of Sarah Palin as well-informed, compared with just 41% of white mainline Protestants. Read the report at people-press.org »
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Sept. 30 - NPR
Obama's Lead Narrows Among Jewish Voters
On NPR, Senior Fellow John Green explains the demographics of the Jewish vote in the U.S.
Read more Pew Forum in the News articles »
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