Religion and Politics

The maps and the survey do give quite an interesting perspective on the potential voting trends, and while I wouldn't argue that they are the deciding factor for someone's vote to be for a conservative or liberal candidate, I believe it does play a major role. With almost three quarters of the population of the United States claiming to be Christian of some denomination, it stands that political view point, if it has any relation with religion, has to be determined by specific denomination and how religious the person is. Including the maps shown by the original poster, this denominational view found here, shows that the Southern Baptist church, which tends to be a more conservative denomination. On the other hand, Catholicism, which as been markedly liberal since Vatican II, and Methodism, which has been a more moderate to liberal denomination for many years as well. This separation, including the maps showing how important religion is to different regions and the voting trends throughout the states, shows that religion does play a role in the way people view the world and this in turn will affect the way they vote, as voting in a democratic nation is our only way of directly influencing how the higher roles of government can shape the world in ways that we prefer.