Church Voting Recommendations, Voter Preferences, and Political Decisions

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2288136
AutoresBenno Torgler (0000-0002-9809-963X, School of Economics and Finance Queensland University of Technology, autor correspondente), 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)
Ano2020
Volume59
Fascículo3
Páginas455-475
Data de publicação2020-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0021-8294 • E-ISSN: 1468-5906
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jssr.12669
OpenAlexW3043900857
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências 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