Church Voting Recommendations, Voter Preferences, and Political Decisions

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2288136
AutoresBenno Torgler (0000-0002-9809-963X, School of Economics and Finance Queensland University of Technology, autor de correspondencia), David Stadelmann (0000-0002-1211-9936, Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology (BEST) Queensland University of Technology), Marco Portmann (0000-0002-5428-4366, CREMA – Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts)
Año2020
Volumen59
Número3
Páginas455-475
Fecha de publicación2020-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0021-8294 • E-ISSN: 1468-5906
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jssr.12669
OpenAlexW3043900857
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas33

In Switzerland, two key church institutions-the Conference of Swiss Bishops and the Federation of Protestant Churches-make public recommendations on how to vote for certain referenda. We leverage this situation to directly measure religious organizations' power to reflect and shape human decision making. That is, using a direct measure of voters' commitment to their religious institution, we analyze whether they are more likely to vote in line with this organization's voting recommendation. We find that these recommendations do indeed wield influence, implying that even in a secularized world, religion plays a crucial role in voting decisions. Our results hold for both aggregate and individual-level voting decisions

Disapproval voting · Economics · Institution · Leverage (statistics) · Political science · Politics · Protestantism · Public economics · Voting · Computer Science · Law · Public Administration · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology