The Anti-Christian Fundamentalist Factor in Contemporary Politics

Abstract

Utilizing data from the 1988-96 American National Election Studies (ANES) and the 1997 ANES Pilot Study, we will show that voters have begun to orient their political attitudes and behaviors according to their feelings toward Christian fundamentalists. This is particularly the case with antifundamentalists, the roughly one-fifth of the white nonfundamentalist public who, significantly more so than other nonfundamentalists, intensely dislike fundamentalists and who perceive members of this religious group as militantly intolerant, ideologically extreme, inegalitarian with respect to women's rights, and monolithically Republican. These associations coincided with a marked shift in the proportion of antifundamentalists who became concerned about cultural and religious issues in national political life. Multivariate analyses show that feelings toward Christian fundamentalists are now a significant predictor of relative party assessments, adverse to the Republican party. Moreover, logistic regression analyses demonstrate that antipathy toward Christian fundamentalists has become a significant explanatory variable of vote choice in recent presidential elections. Antifundamentalism today has joined ideology as a predictor of presidential vote choice, and its impact surpasses the effects of traditional economic variables, such as attitudes toward government activism and retrospective assessments of the economy. Our findings lend support to scholars who contend that the 1992 presidential election quickened or heightened cultural and religious forces that to this day structure attitudes toward the two major parties. The data attest to the power of negative religious out-group affect in shaping political perceptions, attitudes, and behavior during periods of cultural ferment.

The Origins & Meaning of Liberal/Conservative Self-Identifications Revisited

“…Analyzing responses to feeling thermometer questions relating to Christian fundamentalists in National Election Studies spanning the 1980s and 1990s, Bolce and DeMaio discovered that Christian fundamentalism has become nearly synonymous with the Republican Party (see also Green and Guth 1988). The resulting correlation between self-identified liberalism and hostility toward conservative Christians became especially marked following the 1992 presidential campaign, during which the party began to emphasize social and cultural issues to a greater extent than it had previously (Bolce and DeMaio 1999b). This trend has been but the most visible manifestation of attitudes toward socially conservative reference groups attaining newfound political salience as a result of the New Right regime's defining tactic of dividing the New Deal coalition by sparking ''culture wars'' through the politicization of issues such as abortion and gay rights (Sundquist 1984;Hunter 1991).…”

Conflict, Fusion, or Coexistence? The Complexity of Contemporary American Conservatism

“…We aim here to add to the thus far relatively limited number of empirical studies of the complexity of contemporary American conservatism (though see Bartels 2006;Layman 2001;Bolce and DeMaio 1998;Adams 1997;Layman andCarmines 1997, Stimson 2004;Ellis and Stimson 2007a, b). We begin by presenting the results of an original survey of a national sample of 450 citizens conducted in the spring of 2006.…”

The Clash of Rights: Explaining Attitudes toward a Religious Exemption to the HHS Contraception Mandate

“…There is an extensive literature on the role of religion in shaping attitudes on social issues; however, as Jelen (2009) points out, which religion variables have an effect is subject to disagreement. Some scholars point to the effects of religious affiliation (Bolce and De Maio 1999;Brooks and Manza 2004;Kellstedt and Green 1993;Kellstedt et al 1997;Steensland et al 2000), whereas others focus their attention on religiosity and church attendance (Brooks and Manza 2004;Haider-Markel and Joslyn 2005;Sullins 1999) or values and beliefs (Brewer 2003a;2003b that the religion variables that may influence attitudes on social issues may not be the same that influence Americans' attitudes toward economic issues (Gaines and Garand 2010;McCarthy et al 2016;Wilson 2009). The bottom line is that there is a rich body of work connecting Americans' attitudes toward social issues and various religion variables.…”