I have one question, especially in terms of Catholics, is to what degree ethnicity plays into this. I was born and grew up in the Chicago area and lived there from 1950 to 1992. Since that time I have lived on the west coast.. In the Chicago that I knew Catholic churches tended to be dominated by a particular ethnicity -- Polish, Italian, Irish. In fact I once had a Polish-American girl friend who took me to a church that did the mass in Polish. Since moving to the west coast one sees a different attendees at Catholic churches with many Hispanics as well as other ethnic groups. It strikes me that as the generations become farther removed from the immigrant generation the ethnic ties may weaken and the Church that once served as a community centere may lose some of its gravitational pull.
I'm interested in the methodology used to conclude that 55% of Ohio is liberal. The most recent Gallup survey I could find pins iberals at 21% in Ohio. The conservative result corresponds to the sample you describe, at 36%. Moderates comprise 37%. I think it's highly unlikely that 100% of moderates would suddenly identify as liberal. Something's off. That, and Ohio is arguably much more politically conservative today than it was 30 years ago--2026 aside, when candidate quality and a national environment may give Democrats some wins in the state.
For the apparent "shift" of Evangelicals becoming more conservative, have the Evangelicals moved or has the Republican party moved in a direction more congenial to Evangelicals (more religious?)? At same time, Democrats might have moved further away, perhaps due to secularization and endorsement of policies seen by some as incompatible with religion. If Democrats and Republicans were more centrist in the past, then there would be less "compulsion" to choose between them.
In regards to Generation Z evangelicals: 74% are certain in their belief in the existence of God, 66% feel that religion is important (I suppose personally, in their own lives), yet only 49% attend church services on a regular weekly basis. That's a wide gap. Sounds like the makings for a new Christian denomination!
Interesting - I actually think they speed it up. I have a few interactions with those leaving the evangelical fold: 1) their knowledge of basic Christian doctrine or even prayers (like the Lords Prayer, Creed) is close to zero 2) little or no regular church attendance practice (i think that shows in your stats too) 3) Christian commitment boils down to a few slogans and calling themselves “Evangelical”. When years ago i reached out to ex-mainliners who left for evangelical pastures only 20% still had any church affiliation - there others were “Evangelicals” who never attended church. Maybe just my sample but i view them as an intensive course before leaving church.
I have one question, especially in terms of Catholics, is to what degree ethnicity plays into this. I was born and grew up in the Chicago area and lived there from 1950 to 1992. Since that time I have lived on the west coast.. In the Chicago that I knew Catholic churches tended to be dominated by a particular ethnicity -- Polish, Italian, Irish. In fact I once had a Polish-American girl friend who took me to a church that did the mass in Polish. Since moving to the west coast one sees a different attendees at Catholic churches with many Hispanics as well as other ethnic groups. It strikes me that as the generations become farther removed from the immigrant generation the ethnic ties may weaken and the Church that once served as a community centere may lose some of its gravitational pull.
I'm interested in the methodology used to conclude that 55% of Ohio is liberal. The most recent Gallup survey I could find pins iberals at 21% in Ohio. The conservative result corresponds to the sample you describe, at 36%. Moderates comprise 37%. I think it's highly unlikely that 100% of moderates would suddenly identify as liberal. Something's off. That, and Ohio is arguably much more politically conservative today than it was 30 years ago--2026 aside, when candidate quality and a national environment may give Democrats some wins in the state.
That was a thought experiment, Travis. I guess I should have made that more clear in the text.
It's just to illustrate a point about how aggregate change can happen.
For the apparent "shift" of Evangelicals becoming more conservative, have the Evangelicals moved or has the Republican party moved in a direction more congenial to Evangelicals (more religious?)? At same time, Democrats might have moved further away, perhaps due to secularization and endorsement of policies seen by some as incompatible with religion. If Democrats and Republicans were more centrist in the past, then there would be less "compulsion" to choose between them.
In regards to Generation Z evangelicals: 74% are certain in their belief in the existence of God, 66% feel that religion is important (I suppose personally, in their own lives), yet only 49% attend church services on a regular weekly basis. That's a wide gap. Sounds like the makings for a new Christian denomination!
Interesting - I actually think they speed it up. I have a few interactions with those leaving the evangelical fold: 1) their knowledge of basic Christian doctrine or even prayers (like the Lords Prayer, Creed) is close to zero 2) little or no regular church attendance practice (i think that shows in your stats too) 3) Christian commitment boils down to a few slogans and calling themselves “Evangelical”. When years ago i reached out to ex-mainliners who left for evangelical pastures only 20% still had any church affiliation - there others were “Evangelicals” who never attended church. Maybe just my sample but i view them as an intensive course before leaving church.