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Fanning the Flames

Religious Media Consumption and American Politics

Pepperdine University

Mark Caleb Smith

Cedarville University

Both religion and mass media are politically important in the United States. However, little is known about the political role of religious media. Religious media might be politically influential because they help translate religion into political thinking and because their consumers are likely to internalize the political cues these media provide. We find that almost a quarter of the public claims to have relied on religious media when making voting decisions in 2000. Religious media users felt significantly closer to George W. Bush and Pat Buchanan and farther away from Al Gore and were more likely to vote for Bush and Republican House candidates than nonusers, even after controlling for a host of religious and political variables. These findings reflect more than self-selection effects and suggest that religious media have a polarizing effect on the candidate evaluations and voting behavior of their core audience of political conservatives.

Key Words: religious media • religion and politics • media and politics • narrowcasting • voting behavior • Christian conservatives • evangelicals

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American Politics Research, Vol. 35, No. 6, 846-877 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1532673X07302335


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Newman, B. Articles by Caleb Smith, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?