Leading the Way

Abstract

To examine the impact of religion on the Latino vote, we draw on data from a pre-election survey of 1,603 Latino registered voters conducted in October 2004. We advance the argument that religious identity is politically salient only among Latino evangelicals. Controlling for a host of voting determinants, we show that religious identity has an independent effect on the vote among Latino evangelicals. Furthermore, Latino evangelicals who identify with the Republican Party are found to be more-committed supporters of the incumbent president. The existence of a religion gap suggests that the Latino electorate may become much less cohesive as a voting bloc as religious affiliation becomes more pluralistic in the Latino community.