The Relevance of Religion for Political Office: Voter Bias Toward Candidates from Different Religious Backgrounds

• Published in: Political behavior Vol. 44; no. 2; pp. 981 - 1001
• Main Authors: Madrid, Raul, Merolla, Jennifer L., Yanez Ruiz, Aldo, Schroedel, Jean Reith
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bias; Mormonism; Original Paper; Political campaigns; Political Science; Political Science and International Relations; Political Science and International Studies; Presidential candidates; Religion; Sociology; Voters; Religion; Atheist; Candidate evaluations; Bias; Muslim
• ISSN: 0190-9320; 1573-6687
• DOI: 10.1007/s11109-022-09782-6

Over the last several decades, Gallup data shows an increased willingness among members of the public to support presidential candidates from a wide range of religious backgrounds, though a nontrivial proportion of the public is still unwilling to vote for an Atheist, Mormon, or Muslim. What underlies this opposition? We argue that voters evaluate candidates from religious out-groups more negatively on a wide range of dimensions considered desirable for political office, and that this bias should be more pronounced among the highly religious. We show support for these arguments using a survey experiment fielded with YouGov. Atheists and Muslim candidates were perceived more negatively on a large set of traits considered desirable for political office compared to candidates from religious in-groups, and Mormon candidates fall somewhere in between. The Atheist and Muslim candidates were also perceived as less competent on a diverse set of issues.