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Study: Religion still matters in voting

COLUMBIA, Mo., April 21 (UPI) -- Religious beliefs still influence how people vote, even though church attendance in Western democracies has declined, a U.S. study shows.

Chris Raymond, a political science instructor at the University of Missouri, says his study contradicts the view of many political experts that voters around the world are "floating without party loyalties" and that religion does not influence voters.

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Raymond said his study suggests religion still has a large impact on how people vote and helps define many of the party issue platforms important to people, a UM release said Thursday.

In the study, Raymond studied voting in the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany.

The three countries were selected because they each represented a different trend in voting based on religious beliefs: People in Germany are perceived to be moving away from religious voting; the United States is experiencing a rise in religious voting; and religious voting in the United Kingdom has held steady, Raymond said.

"The literature indicated that these countries had become more secular, and scholars have said that religious voting 'no longer mattered,' but this study shows that is not the case," Raymond said. "Regardless of the trends, religiosity remains on par with class issues as far as why people vote."

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Each country has specific political issues that may encourage voting affiliated with religious beliefs, Raymond said, citing abortion rights in the United States, state funding of churches in the United Kingdom and issues related to Muslim integration in Germany as primary examples.

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