Thursday, February 03, 2005
Interesting
Not quite sure what to make of this survey. Its main findings indicate that 53% of Catholics voted for Bush, while mainline Protestants split their vote evenly, the highest percentage to go to the Democrats since the 1960's. One very significant number is the percentage of Protestant Hispanics - 63 - that voted for Bush. The proportion of Hispanics that are Protestant is relatively low, but they are an ever-increasing segment of the Hispanic population. I am not certain why such a higher percentage of Protestant Hispanics would throw their support for Bush as compared to Catholic and other Hispanics. My only guess is that a large number of Protestant Hispanics are Pentecostal, a somewhat more fundamentalist brand of Protestantism, and are therefore perhaps not in the mainstream Protestant category.
On the surface, the numbers are somewhat favorable to the Republicans. Catholics are an increasing proportion of the population, while mainline Protestantism is on the decline. Similarly, as just mentioned, the percentage of Protestant Hispanics is rapidly expanding. Of course, there is no telling whether the demographic trends will remain constant, or that the voting trends within those demographic areas will hold. (Not to mention one cannot be sure how accurate the poll is).
On the surface, the numbers are somewhat favorable to the Republicans. Catholics are an increasing proportion of the population, while mainline Protestantism is on the decline. Similarly, as just mentioned, the percentage of Protestant Hispanics is rapidly expanding. Of course, there is no telling whether the demographic trends will remain constant, or that the voting trends within those demographic areas will hold. (Not to mention one cannot be sure how accurate the poll is).
# posted by Paul Zummo : 11:09 AM
