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Belonging, Behaving, and Believing

Assessing the Role of Religion on Presidential Approval

Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina

Adam L. Warber

Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina

We operationalize three dimensions of religion—religious affiliation, religious commitment, and religious belief—to offer a detailed analysis of how religion affects presidential approval ratings. Using data from the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 American National Election Studies, we demonstrate that operationalizing religion as a rudimentary Protestant—Catholic affiliation dichotomy masks its influence on presidential approval. We find that religious affiliation, even when measured more precisely than with a Protestant—Catholic dichotomy, contributes less to models of presidential approval than do measures of religious commitment and (especially) orthodoxy of religious belief.

Key Words: presidential approval • religion and politics • evangelical Protestants • religious commitment

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