Faith and Values Remain Constant
Thursday, February 09, 2006
The Hotline discusses a recent poll in their Margin for Error section that surveys church attendance and importance of religion. Interestingly enough, yet not really surprising is that attendance and importance of faith have remained steady over the past 30 years.
In spite of all the talk about values and the importance of faith today, results of the survey have changed little in 30 years—dropping from 79% of respondents saying religion was an important part of their life in 1978 to 77% in 2004.
For me, the most noticeable difference in polling occurs in the denomination of respondents. In 1978, 65% of respondents identified themselves as Preotestant and 10% other. While in 2004, 55% identified themselves as Protestant and and full 17% identified themselves as other.
Hotline's Aoife McCarthy says,
So what do these numbers show us? Well first, more women vote than men. No shocker here, especially since they make up more of the general population. In regards to income, the more affluent are also the more prolific voters. But keep in mind that the ANES groupings are not evenly divided. Consider the bottom two brackets together to make up the low end of the spectrum (24% based on '04 breakdowns), the middle group stands alone (30%), and finally the top two groupings comprise the final 34%.What Dems missed in 2004, Governor Kaine will never forget, as he starts every speech/conversation/interpersonal greeting with, "As a young missionary in Honduras..."
The most interesting demographic in this first installment of our electorate watch is the prominence of religion throughout the electorate. In '04, 77% say religion is an important part of their lives. In addition, 35% attend services weekly or almost weekly with another 15% attending once or twice a month, bringing the total of regular/semi-regular church goers to 50%. This is not something that Dems can ignore -- again that is. Looking back at the summer of '04, when it was still anyone's game, the Dems misstepped in a way they are coming to terms with today -- that is, they failed to address the the moral conscious of the nation.
The fact that Dems needed a poll to know that spirituality and faith are still universal concepts is particularly troubling. I personally believe it is evident, however, in their abandonment of Southwest and Southside Virginia. What they still seem unable to grasp is that for much of the Old Dominion's hinterlands, faith isn't measured by taking a year to find yourself when you are 21. If you are 21 and lost in Dickenson County, you just might end up finding yourself in a mine.
This isn't a swipe at Kaine, but an expression of amazement that our party leaders have divided Virginia geographically and continue to play a zero sum game at the expense of those furthest from Richmond.
Further, it isn't like the faith issue takes a theology degree to crack. In fact, you can learn most of what you need about faith in Virginia's hinterlands by watching some old episodes of the Walton's and perhaps a couple Ralph Stanley tracks.
It isn't that Dems can't break through the culture of the region, it is that they don't even try. While Kaine won, what about Deeds and Byrne. Neither ran with a scenario that included SW or South Side and both came very close. How many votes could either candidate have turned just by making an effort.
I'm digressing, so let me bring this truck around. I recently heard someone say that while Deomcrats constantly talk about leading people, Republicans talk about representing. And yes, there is a difference. Down in the Blue Ridge, we have all sinned and come short of the glory...
posted by Libertas @ 12:03 AM,
1 Comments:
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At 8:21 AM,
J.Sarge said...
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While I don't know much about the breakdout numbers from the survey you cite, I wonder if the true change over time has been within the Protestant breakout group. I wouldn't be surprised if the percentage of mainline Protestants has declined while the percentage of evangelical/charismatic/born-again has "risen," so to speak.