IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v102y2021i1p179-197.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cognitive Sophistication, Religion, and the Trump Vote

Author

Listed:
  • Darren E. Sherkat

Abstract

Objectives Support for Donald has been linked to religious commitments and education, though the issue of how cognitive sophistication may play a role in his support has rarely been examined. This study explores how cognitive sophistication and religion influenced political orientations and Trump voting. Methods Data from the 2018 General Social Survey are examined. Logistic regression is used to predict voting and choice. Structural equation models are estimated to examine the interrelationships between cognitive ability, education, religious commitments, political orientations, and the Trump vote. Results Cognitive sophistication was found to have a positive effect on voting, but a negative effect on choosing Trump. The influence of cognitive sophistication works through its support for secular beliefs and opposition to biblical inerrancy, influencing Republican partisanship and political conservatism that favored Trump. Conclusions Cognitive sophistication and educational attainment are important for influencing political commitments and the Trump vote, and the effect of cognitive sophistication is entwined with its negative association with religious fundamentalism and positive association with secularism.

Suggested Citation

  • Darren E. Sherkat, 2021. "Cognitive Sophistication, Religion, and the Trump Vote," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(1), pages 179-197, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:102:y:2021:i:1:p:179-197
    DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.12906
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12906
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ssqu.12906?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keister,Lisa A., 2011. "Faith and Money," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521721103, September.
    2. Rachel Milstein Sondheimer & Donald P. Green, 2010. "Using Experiments to Estimate the Effects of Education on Voter Turnout," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 174-189, January.
    3. Patrick J. Egan, 2020. "Identity as Dependent Variable: How Americans Shift Their Identities to Align with Their Politics," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(3), pages 699-716, July.
    4. Keister,Lisa A., 2011. "Faith and Money," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521896511, September.
    5. David E. Campbell & Geoffrey C. Layman & John C. Green & Nathanael G. Sumaktoyo, 2018. "Putting Politics First: The Impact of Politics on American Religious and Secular Orientations," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 62(3), pages 551-565, July.
    6. repec:cup:judgdm:v:14:y:2019:i:2:p:179-186 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kevin McCaffree & Anondah Saide & Michael Shermer, 2024. "The New Nones: An Empirical Study of Dual Religious and Political Non-affiliation," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 29(1), pages 264-276, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Livio Di Matteo, 2016. "All equal in the sight of God: economic inequality and religion in the early twentieth century," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(1), pages 23-45.
    2. John Anyanwu, 2013. "Working Paper 180 - Marital Status, Household Size and Poverty in Nigeria: Evidence from the 2009-2010 Survey Data," Working Paper Series 978, African Development Bank.
    3. Slade Shantz, Angelique & Kistruck, Geoffrey & Zietsma, Charlene, 2018. "The opportunity not taken: The occupational identity of entrepreneurs in contexts of poverty," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 416-437.
    4. Isaac Gershon Kodwo Ansah & Cornelis Gardebroek & Rico Ihle, 2019. "Resilience and household food security: a review of concepts, methodological approaches and empirical evidence," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(6), pages 1187-1203, December.
    5. Claudiu Herteliu & Ionel Jianu & Iulia Jianu & Vasile Catalin Bobb & Gurjeet Dhesi & Sebastian Ion Ceptureanu & Eduard Gabriel Ceptureanu & Marcel Ausloos, 2021. "Money’s importance from the religious perspective," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 299(1), pages 375-399, April.
    6. Rachel Ellis, 2018. "“It’s Not Equality”: How Race, Class, and Gender Construct the Normative Religious Self among Female Prisoners," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(2), pages 181-191.
    7. John Anyanwu, 2012. "Working Paper 149 - Accounting for Poverty in Africa: Illustration with Survey Data from Nigeria," Working Paper Series 383, African Development Bank.
    8. Megan Rogers & Mary Ellen Konieczny, 2018. "Does religion always help the poor? Variations in religion and social class in the west and societies in the global south," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Sumaia A. Al‐Kohlani & Heather E. Campbell, 2022. "Extending environmental justice research to religious minorities," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 39(1), pages 90-112, January.
    10. Gottfried Schweiger, 2019. "Religion and poverty," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-3, December.
    11. Agnieszka Sowa & Stanisława Golinowska & Dorly Deeg & Andrea Principi & Georgia Casanova & Katherine Schulmann & Stephania Ilinca & Ricardo Rodrigues & Amilcar Moreira & Henrike Gelenkamp, 2016. "Predictors of religious participation of older Europeans in good and poor health," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 145-157, June.
    12. Lai, Weizheng, 2024. "The effect of education on voter turnout in China's rural elections," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 230-247.
    13. Alessandro Gavazza & Mattia Nardotto & Tommaso Valletti, 2019. "Internet and Politics: Evidence from U.K. Local Elections and Local Government Policies," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(5), pages 2092-2135.
    14. Miguel Calvin & Pilar Rey del Castillo, 2023. "A Bayesian Networks Approach for Analyzing Voting Behavior," CESifo Working Paper Series 10855, CESifo.
    15. Ethan Kaplan & Fernando Saltiel & Sergio S. Urzúa, 2019. "Voting for Democracy: Chile's Plebiscito and the Electoral Participation of a Generation," NBER Working Papers 26440, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Ronja Sczepanski, 2023. "European by action: How voting reshapes nested identities," European Union Politics, , vol. 24(4), pages 751-770, December.
    17. G. Bellettini & C. Berti Ceroni & C. Monfardini, 2017. "Ethnic diversity and political participation: the role of individual income," Working Papers wp1114, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    18. Nadja Bömmel & Guido Heineck, 2023. "Revisiting the causal effect of education on political participation and interest," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 664-682, November.
    19. Harka, Elona & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2022. "Studying more to vote less. Education and voter turnout in Italy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    20. Salomo Hirvonen & Jerome Schafer & Janne Tukiainen, 2022. "Policy Feedback and Civic Engagement: Evidence from the Finnish Basic Income Experiment," Discussion Papers 155, Aboa Centre for Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:102:y:2021:i:1:p:179-197. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.