Religion and voting behaviour in Belgium: An analysis of the relation between religious beliefs and Christian Democratic voting

Abstract

In this article, we investigate the impact of religious involvement on voting preference for the Christian Democratic party in Belgium. Although religious involvement is declining in Western European democracies, there is still significant evidence for the influence of religion on voting behaviour. We examine the relationship between individual religiosity, community religious involvement and vote preference for the Christian Democratic party in Belgium in 2009. The results show that a Catholic denomination is the most important predictor for vote preference for the Christian Democratic party, followed by church practice. The multilevel analysis demonstrates that this effect can be observed not just at the individual level, but also at the community level as inhabitants of communities with high levels of church practice are more likely to vote for the Christian Democratic party, even controlling for their own religious background and behaviour. Religion still plays a role in determining voting preferences, with the religious effect occurring simultaneously at the individual and the community level, although it is clear that the effect is much stronger at the individual level.

Religion as a Commitment Device: The Economics of Political Islam

“…In Muslim majority countries, the documented links between personal religiosity and political and voting behavior are not very reliable. This is at odds with the evidence from Europe where Catholicism is a strong predictor of voting for Christian Democratic parties (Botterman and Hooghe , Van der Brug et al. ).…”

An Ecological Study of Community‐Level Correlates of Suicide Mortality Rates in the Flemish Region of Belgium, 1996–2005

“…This is the most prevalent religious affiliation in the strongly secularized region of Flanders. The actual indicator, measuring only the behavioral dimension of religion, is a factor score based on the ratio of participation in rituals such as baptism, marriage, funeral, and attendance at the Christmas Mass, averaged over two observations in 2006 and 2007 (Botterman & Hooghe, inpress). 3 Although, strictly speaking, the observation period of this independent variable is situated 1 year after the observation period of the dependent variable, it is safe to assume that the regional variation in religious behavior is quite stable.…”

Education and marriage: the shift from female hypergamy to hypogamy in Belgium, a 20th century cohort analysis

“…At least on the surface, romantic love replaced convenience and economic interests as the main reason to get married (Coontz, 2005). The proportion of marriages celebrated in the Church declined from about 90% in 1967 to less than 30% in 2006 (Botterman, Hooghe, 2012). Divorce became an acceptable and normalized practice in Belgium and so did unmarried cohabitation.…”