Thou Shalt Not Flip Flop: Senators’ Religious Affiliations and Issue Position Consistency

Abstract

Is there a relationship between legislators’ religious affiliations and the consistency of their voting records? Building on the theory of “the personal roots of representation,” we argue that a legislator's likelihood of switching positions depends on whether the issue is central to their personal values. We evaluate this claim using a data set including senators’ religious affiliations and “culture war” votes from 1976 to 2004 and find that different religious groups vary in their voting consistency on issues such as abortion, public prayer, and gay and lesbian rights.

Securitization, Normalization, and Representations of Islam in Senate Discourse

“…As the smaller and more elite chamber, the Senate provides an important institutional context wherein legislators represent relatively diverse constituencies across their states and are influential in deliberations over executive and judicial nominations as well as foreign affairs. Furthermore, members of the Senate are more nationally recognized as party leaders than members of the House, and partisan dynamics in the Senate are less understood than in the House (McTague and Pearson-Merkowitz 2015, 423).…”

Embryonic Politics: Attitudes about Abortion, Stem Cell Research, and IVF

“…Moreover, to date, only the Catholic Church has spoken out specifically against IVF (Fortin and Abele 2016). A recent study on Senators’ voting patterns finds that Evangelical Protestant and Jewish office holders are the most constrained in their views on culture wars issues, including abortion, with Evangelical Protestants in opposition and Jews most supportive (McTague and Pearson-Merkowitz 2015). Indeed, Jewish Americans have traditionally been more pro-choice (Cook, Jelen and Wilcox 1992; Jelen and Wilcox 2003), and Jewish organizations have advocated in support of ESC research (Holland, Lebacqz and Zoloth 2001), while internationally, Israel had the highest number of fertility clinics per capita and the highest rate of IVF treatments (Kahn 2000).…”

Catholic Politicians and the Politics of Abortion Position Taking

“…Scholars are more frequently recognizing that a legislator's faith is also an important predictor of their behavior. Religious affiliation can explain how consistently members vote on culture war issues (McTague and Pearson-Merkowitz 2015), how often senator support the agenda of the Family Research Council (Smith, Olson, and Fine 2010), and how frequently a member supports Catholic social teaching (Oldmixon and Hudson 2008). Religious affiliation can also explain votes on more specific issues — like abortion — where religious doctrines have obvious relevance (Daynes and Tatalovich 1984; Richardson and Fox 1972; Witt and Moncrief 1993).…”

“…These conflicts may cause Catholic Democrats to behave in unexpected ways, befitting people who still feel the pull of their faith. According to one analysis, Catholic Democratic Senator Joe Biden had one of the least consistent records on abortion in the entire Senate between 1976–2004 (McTague and Pearson-Merkowitz 2015, 434). Meanwhile, the member of Congress who sponsored the highest number of pro-life Constitutional amendments between the 93 rd and 108 th Congresses was also a Catholic Democrat, Minnesota's Representative James Oberstar (Ainsworth and Hall 2011, 125).…”