Freethought & Rationalism Archive

excreationist · 03-19-2003, 09:58 PM

I was wondering if there are any surveys that see whether Americans prefer their President to mention God or not... after all I think 90% of Americans believe in something they call "God".
Even if the effect on voters is only small, it could mean the difference between winning and losing in elections - encouraging Presidents mention God (and perhaps also talking about prayer, etc). - assuming that the overall effect is that more people vote for that President.

Seeker630 · 03-20-2003, 04:47 AM

I haven't heard of any polls dealing with that. I think, though, that most of the 85-90% simply don't care one way or the other.

But in the same vein, I won't vote for Joe Lieberman in either the primary or the election (if he gets that far). During the 2000 campaign he remarked on a couple of occassions that we have freedom of religion, but not freedom from it. F*ck him. He was probably just trying to keep up with the Republicans, who played the religion card frequently during the campaign. I don't care if that's all he was doing. It just shows why the Dems lost the seats they did in the las mid-term elections. They keep acting and voting like Republicans.

I'll vote for a Socialist or the Green Party before I'll vote for Lieberman if he winds up as the Democratic candidtate.

The last figures I saw stated that 86% were believers.

excreationist · 03-20-2003, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Seeker630
I haven't heard of any polls dealing with that. I think, though, that most of the 85-90% simply don't care one way or the other.

I thought many Christians would feel closer to a man like Bush who talks about prayer and God quite a bit.

Quote:

...The last figures I saw stated that 86% were believers.

This is from Barna.org - Beliefs: General Religious:

Quote:

Faith Groups (2002)
- 85% of Americans self-identify as Christians.
- 5% of US adults classify as evangelicals
35% of US adults classify as born again, but not evangelical
37% are self-described Christians but are neither evangelical nor born again
8% of adults nationwide maintain self-identify as atheists or agnostics
9% of the US population identify with a faith other than Christianity

It also says things like 95% believed in God in 1997. Based on the above statistics, it seems about 92% believe in God (don't call themselves atheists or agnostics).

Here it says that in 2000, in a typical weekend, 40% of American adults attended church.

So they might feel more at home with a President who talks about God a bit.

I just discovered that Barna has got a Politics section. They have some interesting statistics, but I couldn't really find anything relevant to my original query.

BTW, Bush did some things like help fund faith-based charities (I think) - surely some voters liked or disliked that and that affected their opinion of his party... I wonder if the overall effect was positive or negative for Bush though.

excreationist · 03-20-2003, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Seeker630
...But in the same vein, I won't vote for Joe Lieberman in either the primary or the election (if he gets that far). During the 2000 campaign he remarked on a couple of occassions that we have freedom of religion, but not freedom from it. F*ck him. He was probably just trying to keep up with the Republicans, who played the religion card frequently during the campaign. I don't care if that's all he was doing. It just shows why the Dems lost the seats they did in the las mid-term elections. They keep acting and voting like Republicans....

I'm assuming that there are two candidates who are identical in every way, except that one mentions God sometimes (or a lot) and the other never mentions God or prayer.

Grumpy · 03-20-2003, 02:37 PM

Apart from mentioning or not mentioning God, I recall a fairly recent poll (sorry, no cite) that revealed that an atheist stood the least chance of getting elected to high office, among several minority groups.

As to the OP, the most direct comparison I can think of is the 2000 Republican primary for President, where George W. Bush touted his religious fervor, while Sen. John McCain preferred to keep quiet about it. Look who won.

03-21-2003, 02:46 PM

McCain's campaign began to collapse when he attacked the Christain right and its leaders. That really says a lot about the Republican party.

pariah · 03-21-2003, 11:03 PM

I like mc'cain...

i dont see how he lost to gw bush. i mean mccain is a vietnam vet!!! it sucks, i hate gw, mccain kicks ass

themistocles · 03-25-2003, 02:37 PM

Invoking god in American politics probably doesn't much help a candidate get elected, but a candidate who castigates religion isn't going to win.

03-19-2003, 09:58 PM	#1
excreationist Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Australia Posts: 4,886	Election effect of mentioning God in U.S.? I was wondering if there are any surveys that see whether Americans prefer their President to mention God or not... after all I think 90% of Americans believe in something they call "God". Even if the effect on voters is only small, it could mean the difference between winning and losing in elections - encouraging Presidents mention God (and perhaps also talking about prayer, etc). - assuming that the overall effect is that more people vote for that President.

03-21-2003, 11:03 PM	#7
pariah Banned Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: الرياض Posts: 6,456	:( I like mc'cain... i dont see how he lost to gw bush. i mean mccain is a vietnam vet!!! it sucks, i hate gw, mccain kicks ass

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03-20-2003, 04:47 AM	#2
Seeker630 Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: North America Posts: 1,624	I haven't heard of any polls dealing with that. I think, though, that most of the 85-90% simply don't care one way or the other. But in the same vein, I won't vote for Joe Lieberman in either the primary or the election (if he gets that far). During the 2000 campaign he remarked on a couple of occassions that we have freedom of religion, but not freedom from it. F*ck him. He was probably just trying to keep up with the Republicans, who played the religion card frequently during the campaign. I don't care if that's all he was doing. It just shows why the Dems lost the seats they did in the las mid-term elections. They keep acting and voting like Republicans. I'll vote for a Socialist or the Green Party before I'll vote for Lieberman if he winds up as the Democratic candidtate. The last figures I saw stated that 86% were believers.

03-20-2003, 02:37 PM	#5
Grumpy Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Alaska, USA Posts: 1,535	Apart from mentioning or not mentioning God, I recall a fairly recent poll (sorry, no cite) that revealed that an atheist stood the least chance of getting elected to high office, among several minority groups. As to the OP, the most direct comparison I can think of is the 2000 Republican primary for President, where George W. Bush touted his religious fervor, while Sen. John McCain preferred to keep quiet about it. Look who won.

03-21-2003, 02:46 PM	#6
atheist_in_foxhole Guest Posts: n/a	McCain's campaign began to collapse when he attacked the Christain right and its leaders. That really says a lot about the Republican party.

03-25-2003, 02:37 PM	#8
themistocles Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: las vegas, nevada Posts: 670	Invoking god in American politics probably doesn't much help a candidate get elected, but a candidate who castigates religion isn't going to win.

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