The Role of Religious Belief Within Legislative Decision Making: A quantitative analysis of the impact of religious belief upon the voting patterns of California State Senators
2024 (English) Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
This research aims to examine the relationship and potential correlation between the religious beliefs and religiosity of California state Senators with their voting patterns, i.e., the support or opposition for a piece of legislation, with a specific focus on legislation that affects those within the intellectually and developmentally disabled (IDD) community. This research adopted a correlational research design and used both a purposive sampling methodology and quantitative data collection methods in the form of the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSORF) and vote history data from the Legislative Information System (LIS). In using this research design, the study identified four key findings. Firstly, that based upon the results of the SCSORF questionnaire, religious belief did not correlate with a particular political Party, and that Republican Senators on average had a higher self-identified religiosity that Democrat Senators. Secondly, whilst there was a moderate positive correlation between a Senator’s willingness to vote in support of legislation and against their political party, there was also a moderate negative correlation in voting against leadership and opposing legislation. Thirdly, that Democrat Senators were more likely to vote in support of legislation that the IDD community supported, and that Republican Senators were more likely to align with the IDD community and oppose legislation that the IDD community opposed. Lastly, that the role of partisan politics played a greater role on Senator voting patterns than religiosity or religious belief.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages 2024. , p. 102
Keywords [en]
California, Legislature, Religiosity, Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled, Voting Patterns, Decision Making, Senators
National Category
Religious Studies
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-44157 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-44157 DiVA, id: diva2:1857035
Subject / course Religious studies
Educational program Master Programme in Religious Studies
Presentation
2024-01-25, University of Gävle, 09:18 (English)
Supervisors
Examiners
2024-05-142024-05-102024-05-14 Bibliographically approved