Religion and Third Party Candidates

This project, with Chris Gilbert (Gustavus Adolphus College), Tim Johnson (University of Minnesota) and Paul Djupe (Denison University), examined how religion insulated voters from third party candidates. Our argument is that because churches and other religious actors have connections to politics, and that these connections are long term, distinct from the dynamics of single elections, religion serves as an additional barrier to third party candidates. Using survey data and county level measures of religiosity, we demonstrate that the more religious a person or a community is, the less support there is for third aprty candidates. These results are consistent across multiple presidential and statewide races. The project started when I was at Gustavus, continued while I was in graduate school at the University of Minnesota (while Tim & Paul were in grad school at Washington University). The project generated an article in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion and a book published by Praeger Press.

Article:

Christopher P. Gilbert, Timothy R. Johnson, and David A. M. Peterson. 1995. “The Religious Roots of Third Candidate Voting: A Comparison of Anderson, Perot, and Wallace Voters.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 34 (4): 470-484.

Book:

Christopher P. Gilbert, David A. M. Peterson, Timothy R. Johnson, and Paul A. Djupe. 1999. Religious Institutions and Minor Parties in the United States. Westport, CT: Praeger Press.