The Persistence of the Church-State Conflict in Mexico's Evangelical Vote: The Story of an Outlier

Abstract

While ties between Protestants and anticlerical Liberal parties were common throughout Latin America during the nineteenth century, the resolution of the church-state conflict in most countries by the early twentieth century resulted in the near complete disappearance of these alliances. Using historical analysis and survey data, this article demonstrates that Mexico is an exception to this rule, as the evangelical vote continues to be shaped by the perception and reality of Catholic anti-Protestant persecution. Mexico's anomalous status is explained as a result of the intensity and late resolution of the church-state conflict, ongoing sectarian violence, and the PRI becoming both a dominant party and the best electoral option for evangelicals