No, I haven't done the math; but I expect Alex Murphy will do so for us all, by and by. (Please include charts, graphs, statistics and clickable headlines, bro.)
What it proves that some people --- an electrorally critical percentage of people --- vote by their skin color and their zip code, more than by the plain Christian Doctrines of their own churches.
That's true across denominational lines. To our sorrow.
(Salvation> Something else that needs to be checked on, please, cause you’re the guy to do it. How many of those who voted for Obama — not just Catholics — were on welfare of some kind? Food stamps? Free meals for kids at school, etc.?
I decided a few days ago that I wouldn't be doing a voter study for this election cycle. Sure, the statistics will be interesting and provocative, but ultimately they will prove pointless. The last time I did one, the Catholics bickered about whether the exit polls were "scientifically accurate", about what the definition of 'Catholic' is, about how no "real Catholics" voted for Obama and (laughingly) how it was actually Protestants who overwhelmingly voted for Obama. So have fun parsing the 2012 vote, Catholics. I look forward to seeing what you all come up with, and what your takeaways will be.
IMO a 2012 "religious vote" study is pointless, because Christians no longer represent the majority vote in this country. We need to "grow the base", the takeaway that I reached after doing the 2008 study:
Year-by-year census numbers show that the number of believing, practicing Christians in this country has been steadily declining for decades. I think we have finally shrunk to the level where we've lost any influence over the culture, morality, or politics at large. IMO that's what the 2008 vote demographics are saying.We can't influence the ballot box, until we start changing the hearts and minds of the unbelievers among us. We'll remain a statistical oddity, "strangers in a foreign land" (Exodus 2:22, cf Jeremiah 5:19), until we increase our numbers (and I don't mean simply filling seats in the pews). We Protestants and Evangelicals need to take the Great Commission and all Ten Commandments seriously again.
-- Alex Murphy, November 7, 2008
IMO the answer begins with creating a (counter-)culture for ourselves. The Christians in the first century had their own courts, their own "welfare system", their own traditions and customs. When Rome collapsed, the Christians didn't go with it because they were capable of governing themselves (and others). They'd already learned not to look to the State to meet their needs........Christians need to rediscover the idea that Jesus Christ is Lord over all of His creation, including politics and government. There is no "neutral area" that the Gospel does not apply to. I'm not talking about ecclesiocracy here. I'm talking about families and businesses and governments being subject to Christ's rule, not subject to a church's rule. There should be a common Lord and a common ethic shared between them all. This country was created and settled by Protestants who held similar ideas. if we want to take our country back from the liberals and the Godless who are turning it into a Nanny Police State, then we Christians better get educated on where that "back" is. Otherwise, we'll just go off in another direction again.
-- Alex Murphy, November 9, 2008
....In short, I believe that Christians in 2008 have lost ground, and are now too small a minority to sway elections in and of themselves. We have become strangers in a foreign land (Exodus 2:22, cf Jeremiah 5:19).
-- Alex Murphy, November 10, 2008
The Catholic Church is failing to stem the tide of immorality here in America. The creedally orthodox Protestant churches are failing as well. IMO we can argue all day regarding whose numbers are increasing or decreasing, but none of it matters if cultural rot is still the result. We are failing to be salt and light.
-- Alex Murphy, December 22, 2008
A big difference is that protestants have only voted democrat 3 times, in 1932, 1936, and 1964, while the Catholic vote before 1972, had never gone republican, or according to many, did go republican once, in 1956.
We are in the glory days of Catholic voting republican, it will return to it's permanent democrat loyalties soon, or it already has. The Hispanic vote also splits between the Protestant Hispanic vote, and the Catholic Hispanic vote.
Protestant Hispanics are in play, and have been voting close to 50/50 republican.