The Disappearing God Gap? Religion in the 2008 Presidential Election

Pollsters and pundits have argued for some time that there is a "God gap" in American politics, with church-attending traditionalists aligning against believers and nonbelievers with modern sensibilities. But recently some commentators have suggested that the gap is closing and may even disappear. Following the election of Barack Obama, there was little discussion of religion-suggesting that religious factors had played little, if any, role in his election. Yet the campaign was full of religious stories, from John McCain's reconciliation with the leaders of the Christian right, to the controversy surrounding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, to Sarah Palin's appeal to religious conservations.

CS: Executive Director of the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics, Calvin College; KdD: Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Fellow, Honors College, Grand Valley State University; DK: Professor of Political Science and Interim Director of the Center forSocial Research, Calvin College; SM: Research Fellow, Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics,Calvin College and Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Pepperdine University; JP: Professor of Political Science, Calvin College