The Politics of 130,000 American Religious Leaders: A New Methodological Approach

Abstract

We compile an original database of 130,000 American clergy across 40 denominations, which we link to public voter registration data. We then link these data to mass surveys and a survey of pastors' own churches. This paper has two purposes. First, it introduces a new methodology for learning about religious communities by scraping information from denominational find-a-church websites . Second, the paper presents several short analyses that focus on the political affiliations of pastors and how they relate to congregants. We demonstrate that denominational affiliation is highly informative of a pastor's party registration but not a congregant's. Yet, the weak relationship for congregants masks a stronger underlying relationship between denominational affiliation and issue positions. We also demonstrate that many congregants, particularly in conservative churches, are politically unaligned with their pastor.

Clergy Political Actions and Agendas: New Findings from the National Survey of Religious Leaders

“…While there is much scholarly interest in clergy politics (for recent examples, see Braunstein et al 2017, Delehanty 2018, or Malina and Hersh 2021, almost no research on this subject is based on nationally representative samples of clergy, and none is based on nationally representative samples of clergy from across the religious spectrum. National clergy surveys about politics have focused almost entirely on clergy in a small number of predominantly white Protestant denominations, most prominently in the Cooperative Clergy Study (CCS) series of denominational surveys (Guth et al 1997;Smidt 2004Smidt , 2016.…”

The National Survey of Religious Leaders: Background, Methods, and Lessons Learned in the Research Process

“…Concern with inequality and injustice has fueled research on gender, racial, and other inequalities among the clergy (Eagle and Mueller 2022;Edwards and Kim 2019;Hoge and Wenger 2003;Lauve-Moon 2021;Lehman 1993;Munn 2019;Nesbitt, 1997Nesbitt, , 2019Schleifer and Miller 2018;Zikmund, Chang, and Lummis 1998). Interest in the clergy's social and political influence has inspired research on their participation in politics and social movements, and on their effort and efficacy as mobilizers of political support and action (Brown, Brown, and Jackson 2021;Djupe and Gilbert 2003;Edwards and Oyakawa 2022;Guth et al 1997;Hadden 1969;Malina and Hersh 2021;Olson 2009;Smidt, 2004Smidt, , 2016. Concern about the clergy's physical and mental health and well-being has stimulated research on those subjects (Bloom 2019;Eagle, Miles, and Proeschold-Bell 2017;Flannelly et al 2002;King and Bailar 1969;Proeschold-Bell and Byassee 2018;Proeschold-Bell and LeGrand 2012;Proeschold-Bell et al 2013;Weaver et al 2002).…”

“…Interest in the clergy's social and political influence has inspired research on their participation in politics and social movements, and on their effort and efficacy as mobilizers of political support and action (Brown, Brown, and Jackson 2021; Djupe and Gilbert 2003; Edwards and Oyakawa 2022; Guth et al. 1997; Hadden 1969; Malina and Hersh 2021; Olson 2009; Smidt, 2004, 2016). Concern about the clergy's physical and mental health and well‐being has stimulated research on those subjects (Bloom 2019; Eagle, Miles, and Proeschold‐Bell 2017; Flannelly et al.…”