God, Politics and the Environment: Religious Affiliation and Voting Patterns by Congress On Environmental Legislation, 1970-2010.

Document Type

Social Sciences

Authors

Taylor Clayton, Pepperdine UniversityFollow
Billy Cole, Pepperdine UniversityFollow
Paul Henderson, Pepperdine UniversityFollow

Abstract

Every year members of Congress vote on numerous bills that will have an impact on the vitality of our environment. But what factors, if any, contribute to the way in which Members of the House vote on environmental legislation? In this paper, we postulate that religion has a large role in influencing the voting habits of Representatives. In order to test for religion’s impact, we examined the roll call voting of Members of the House of Representatives spread over nine years from 1970-2010. We find that self- identified religious affiliation is an independently important factor in determining voting patterns of Members of Congress. This pattern holds constant over time and consistent across party lines.

Recommended Citation

Clayton, Taylor; Cole, Billy; and Henderson, Paul (2012) "God, Politics and the Environment: Religious Affiliation and Voting Patterns by Congress On Environmental Legislation, 1970-2010.," Global Tides: Vol. 6, Article 9.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/globaltides/vol6/iss1/9