Posted on 11/08/2012 10:27:21 AM PST by Tired of Taxes
WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- White Catholics, Evangelicals and other Protestant voters appear to have returned to their 2004 party voting preferences in 2012, according to two polls released following Tuesday's voting.
Exit polling released through CNN revealed Protestant Christians (including evangelicals and Mainliners of all races), who made up 53 percent of the electorate, voted 42 percent for President Barack Obama and 57 percent for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Catholics were 25 percent of the electorate, voting 50 percent for Obama and 48 percent for Romney.
Frequency of attendance at religious services revealed a significant gap in support for the candidates, with those attending "weekly" at 39 percent Obama, 59 percent Romney, 'occasionally" at 55 percent Obama and 43 percent Romney and "never" at 62 percent Obama and 34 percent Romney.
A second national poll of those who cast ballots Tuesday commissioned by the Faith and Freedom Coalition reported that white evangelicals voted roughly 78 percent for Romney to 21 percent for Obama. Romney's performance among evangelicals represented a net swing of 10 percent over John McCain's performance in 2008. It also reported that white evangelicals had increased to 27 percent of voters.
Catholic voters who regularly attend Mass broke 67 percent for Romney to 32 percent for Obama, representing a swing of 35 percent in the direction of the GOP since 2008. Romney also won white Catholics by a margin of 59 percent to 40 percent. Obama narrowly won the Catholic vote driven largely by over performing among Hispanic Catholics.
The Faith and Freedom Coalition survey was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and interviewed 1,600 actual 2012 voters.
IRD President Mark Tooley commented:
"Despite hopes for liberal inroads among church groups, especially evangelicals, it appears that evangelicals and traditional Catholics voted strongly along conservative lines. Undoubtedly they were motivated at least partly by issues such as marriage, abortion and religious freedom, especially the HHS contraceptive/abortifacient mandate on religious groups.
"Whatever the reasons for the election’s final result, it seemingly is not due to lack of active concern from tens of millions of evangelicals and traditional Catholics."
I see no methodology. There’s no mention of sample size, methodology of selection of voter, etc. There’s no mention of geographical area(s) where this polling was conducted, during what time, nor what the stats look like for absentee or early voting, nor is there any demographic information on what the general control population makeup is or their voting patterns.
In other words, waving this sort of stuff around in front of a retired EE like me, who has studied a lot of probability and stats, leaves me completely non-plussed. You might as well have told me the average price of potato(e)s in three different states - it would be about as relevant to the election as these exit polls.
I see no methodology. There’s no mention of sample size, methodology of selection of voter, etc. There’s no mention of geographical area(s) where this polling was conducted, during what time, nor what the stats look like for absentee or early voting, nor is there any demographic information on what the general control population makeup is or their voting patterns.
In other words, waving this sort of stuff around in front of a retired EE like me, who has studied a lot of probability and stats, leaves me completely non-plussed. You might as well have told me the average price of potato(e)s in three different states - it would be about as relevant to the election as these exit polls.
I know of evangelical Christians who refused to vote for either Obama or Romney. Obama, because ... he’s Obama, with all the baggage of the left.
But they wouldn’t vote for Romney, because he’s an evil Mormon, with plural wives in a cave somewhere up in the hills of Utah...
No, I’m not kidding. There’s a lot of crazy stuff that comes down from the pulpits of a lot of churches.
I know of evangelical Christians who refused to vote for either Obama or Romney. Obama, because ... he’s Obama, with all the baggage of the left.
But they wouldn’t vote for Romney, because he’s an evil Mormon, with plural wives in a cave somewhere up in the hills of Utah...
No, I’m not kidding. There’s a lot of crazy stuff that comes down from the pulpits of a lot of churches.
So here’s an easy way to game this type of poll:
Take the survey among only target voting populations in the west, where there are more Mormons.
Among east-coast Catholics I’ve known (eg, Italians in upstate NY), their support or tolerance of Mormons is nowhere near this - and isn’t above 50%, either. Matter of fact, their tolerance of anyone who isn’t Italian and Catholic was one of the reasons why I left the area 30 years ago.
Well, this is only anecdotal evidence, but... Most of the Italian Catholics whom I know voted for Romney. But I don’t live in NY, and this small sample wouldn’t represent the entire population. There’s no doubt there are other Catholics voting Democrat.
Now you know who your real friends are. Sane Catholics, meet evangelicals. Evangelicals, meet sane Catholics.
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