RELIGION, RACE, AND BARACK OBAMAS NEW DEMOCRATIC PLURALISM
Contrary to popular claims, religion played a critical role in Barack Obamas 2008 election as president of the United States. Religion, race, and gender entered the national and electoral dialogue in an unprecedented manner. What stood out most in the 2008 presidential campaign was not that Republicans reached out to religious voters but that Democrats didand with a vengeance. This tightly edited volume demonstrates how Obama charted a new course for Democrats by staking out claims among moderate-conservative faith communities and emerged victorious in the presidential contest, in part by promoting a new Democratic racial-ethnic and religious pluralism.
Comprising careful analysis by leading experts on religion and politics in the United States, Gastn Espinosas book details how ten of the largest segments of the American electorate voted and why, drawing on the latest and best available data, interviews, and sources. The voting patterns of mainline Protestants, Evangelicals, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and seculars are dissected in detail, along with the intersection of religion and women, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. The story of Obamas historic election is an insightful prism through which to explore the growing influence of religion in American politics.
Gastn Espinosa is the Arthur V. Stoughton associate professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College and co-editor of the Columbia University Press Series in Religion and Politics. He served as research director of the $1.3 million Pew Charitable Trustsfunded Hispanic Churches in American Public Life research project and national survey and the Latino Religions and Politics national survey. His books include Religion, Race, and the American Presidency (2008) and Religion and the American Presidency: George Washington to George W. Bush with Commentary and Primary Sources (2009).
Routledge Research in American Politics and Governance
- Lobbying the New President
Interests in Transition
Heath Brown - Religion, Race, and Barack
Obamas New Democratic
Pluralism
Gastn Espinosa
First published 2013
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2013 Gastn Espinosa
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Religion, race, and Barack Obamas new democratic pluralism / Gastn Espinosa, editor.
p. cm. (Routledge research in American politics and
governance ; 2)
1. Presidents United States Election 2008. 2. Religion and politics United States History 21st century. 3. United States Race relations Political aspects History 21st century. 4. Cultural pluralism United States History 21st century. 5. Obama, Barack. I. Espinosa, Gastn.
JK5262008 .R45 2012
324.9730931-dc23 2012012373
ISBN: 978-0-415-63376-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-09483-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by HWA Text and Data Management, London
This book is dedicated to my son Gastn Rafael Espinosa.
Never live in the shadows of your dreams.
CONTENTS
Gastn Espinosa
Laura R. Olson, Adam L. Warber, and Kevin R. den Dulk
Corwin E. Smidt
David Leege and Stephen T. Mockabee
Kenneth D. Wald
Brian Calfano, Paul A. Djupe, and John C. Green
Lyman A. Kellstedt and James L. Guth
Katherine Knutson
Valerie C. Cooper and Corwin E. Smidt
Gastn Espinosa
So Young Kim and Russell Jeung
Gastn Espinosa
CONTRIBUTORS
Brian Calfano is associate professor of political science at Missouri State University. He is the author of articles and book chapters on topics as diverse as clergy political behavior, the effect of religious heuristics on voting behavior, religion in state politics, and Middle East democratization.
Valerie C. Cooper is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia. In her research and teaching, she examines issues of religion, race, and society. Her book, Words, Like Fire: Maria Stewart, the Bible, and the Rights of African Americans (forthcoming, University of Virginia Press), analyzes the role of biblical interpretation in the work of Maria Stewart, a pioneering nineteenth-century African American woman political speaker.
Kevin R. den Dulk is the Paul B. Henry Chair in political science and executive director of the Henry Institute, Calvin College. He is the co-author of Pews, Prayers, and Participation: Religion and Civic Responsibility (2011) and Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices (2010). His work has appeared in the International Journal of Political Science and Polity .
Paul A. Djupe is associate professor of political science at Denison University. He is co-author of The Political Influence of American Churches (2008); The Prophetic Pulpit: Clergy, Churches, and Community in American Politics (2003); and Religious Institutions and Minor Parties in the United States (1999).
Gastn Espinosa is the Arthur V. Stoughton associate professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College. He was research director of the $1.3 million Pew Charitable Trusts-funded Hispanic Churches in American Public Life research project and national survey (2000, n = 2,310) and the Latino Religions and Politics national survey (2008, n = 1,104). His works include Religion, Race, and the American Presidency (2011) and Religion and the American Presidency (2009). He is coeditor of the Columbia University Press Series in Religion and Politics.
John C. Green is a senior fellow in religion and American politics at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Akron. Green is the author or co-author of five books and more than sixty scholarly articles, including The Faith Factor: How Religion Influences American Elections (2007). The Los Angeles Times described Green as the nations preeminent student of the relationship between religion and American politics.
James L. Guth is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of political science and a senior fellow in religion and politics at the Richard W. Riley Institute of Government, Politics, and Public Leadership at Furman University. His books include The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Politics (2009); The Bully Pulpit: The Politics of Protestant Clergy (1997); and Religion and the Culture Wars (1996).
Russell Jeung is associate professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University. He is the author of Sustaining Faith Traditions: Race, Ethnicity and Religion among the Latino and Asian American 2nd Generation (2011) and Faithful Generation: Race and New Asian American Churches (2004).
