Diane Winston, Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, authored a Los Angeles Times opinion piece on the role of religion in the 2012 presidential elections.
An excerpt from the article follows below:
What role will religion play in the 2012 elections? According to voters, not a big one. A recent Pew Research Center poll revealed that most Americans are comfortable with what they know about the candidates’ faith and that their votes will have little to do with the nominees’ religion. In fact, a majority of the electorate is significantly more interested in Mitt Romney’s tax returns and gubernatorial record than in his beliefs.
Two-thirds of those surveyed said religion’s influence on the way they vote is declining, which may explain how the Republican Party, whose platform in recent years has reflected white evangelical priorities, could have nominated a Mormon and a Roman Catholic to run for the White House. But is the Romney/Ryan ticket a sign that religion no longer matters or that religious identity — even on the right — is evolving along post-denominational lines? Not really.
Winston was also quoted in a San Diego Union Tribune article, titled “Debate over God is Business as usual in US.” Read the rest of the article here.
