It’s a year away from the election, and there’s already evidence that the Democrats are losing faith — and some of their faithful.
A new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People &the Press found that, by one measure, religious conviction has fallen among Democrats but is increasing among Republicans. The partisan gap is the largest since Pew started doing the survey 16 years ago, said Andrew Kohut, executive director of the center.
In 1987, about 56 percent of all Republicans "completely agreed" with the statement, "We all will be called before God on Judgment Day to answer for our sins." This year, 68 percent of all GOP partisans expressed a similarly strong belief, Kohut said.
The long-term trend among Democrats appears to be going in the reverse. The percentage expressing strong agreement with the statement rose from 53 percent in 1987 to 64 percent in 1999, but dropped 7 points to 57 percent in this year’s survey.
But don’t assume, Kohut said, that the long-term increase in religious conviction among Republicans proves that those in the Grand Old Party are embracing their faith more fervently. Pew’s analysis of the data shows that the rise is largely the result of the Republican party attracting voters from two groups: evangelical Christians who previously identified themselves as Democrats or political independents.
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