Holy Roll Calls: Religious Tradition and Voting Behavior in the U.S. House

• Published in: Social science quarterly 1999-12, Vol.80 (4), p.687-701
• Main Authors: Fastnow, Chris, Grant, J. Tobin, Rudolph, Thomas J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abortion; Beliefs, opinions and attitudes; Catholicism; Church Membership; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Congressional voting; House of Representatives; Influences; Judaism; Legislation; Legislative Bodies; Legislators; Legislature; Of General Interest; Political attitudes; Political behavior; Political behaviour; Political culture; Political elites; Political parties; Political sociology; Politicians; Protestantism; Religion; Religion and politics; Religion Politics Relationship; Religious aspects; Religious Beliefs; Religious identity; Sociology; Tradition; U.S.A; United States; United States of America; Voting; Voting Behavior; Voting behaviour
• ISSN: 0038-4941; 1540-6237

Objective. Religion influences political behavior among the masses (Leege and Kellstedt, 1993) and among some political elites (Luker, 1984), but it is not well studied as a component of congressional behavior. The purpose of this research is to see if trends demonstrated in the masses are present in the U.S. House of Representatives over time. Methods. We use multivariate analysis of roll call voting on the specific issue of abortion as well as the broad ideologically based voting measure ADA in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1959-94. Results. We find that religious affiliation significantly affects specific and general roll call voting behavior, and that religious groups in Congress differ from one another, both within and across parties. We also find that the influence of religion has changed over time. Conclusions. The effect of religion on roll call voting is persistent, suggesting that models of legislative decision making that exclude religion are underspecified.