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Putting Politics First: The Impact of Politics on American Religious and Secular Orientations

Author

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  • David E. Campbell
  • Geoffrey C. Layman
  • John C. Green
  • Nathanael G. Sumaktoyo

Abstract

Nearly all research on the political impact of Americans’ religious and secular orientations assumes that such orientations are exogenous to politics. Using multiwave panel and experimental data, we find that religious and secular orientations are endogenous to political orientations. In other words, religion and secularism are a consequence as well as a cause of politics. In showing this, we make three major contributions. First, we conceptualize and measure secular orientations in a new way—not just as the absence of religion, but also as an affirmative secular identity and positive commitment to secular principles. Second, our panel and experimental data allow for the most definitive test to date of whether political orientations exert a causal effect on religious and secular orientations. Third, we isolate the conditions under which politics affects religious–secular perspectives, thus identifying the mechanism that underlies political orientations.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:62:y:2018:i:3:p:551-565
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12365
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Alrababah, Ala & Casalis, Marine & Masterson, Daniel & Hangartner, Dominik & Wehrli, & Weinstein, Jeremy, 2023. "Reducing Attrition in Phone-based Panel Surveys: A Web Application to Facilitate Best Practices and Semi-Automate Survey Workflow," OSF Preprints gyz3h, Center for Open Science.

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