LifeWay Research is an Evangelical-leaning research organization based in Nashville TN. LifeWay occasionally polls the US population on various connections between politics and religion. In it’s most recent poll it asked folks how they felt about clergy endorsing specific candidates in religious services. As the pie chart above indicates, 79% of the US population polled in a telephone survey of 1000 people in SEP 2015 felt that it was inappropriate for clergy to endorse candidates from the pulpit.
Americans already argue about politics enough outside the church. They don’t want pastors bringing those arguments into worship,” LifeWay Research Executive Director Scott McConnell said in a written statement.
That figure has dropped since a poll in 2008 when 89% of the US population felt candidate endorsements during services were inappropriate. The Christian group which most approved of this type of endorsement were Evangelicals.
- Self-identified Evangelical 27%
- Express evangelical beliefs 25%
- Protestants as a whole 20%
- Catholics 13%
- Other religion 18%
- No religious preference 21%
The Republican Party has a plank in its party platform for this 2016 election season to repeal the Johnson Amendment. The Johnson Amendment made it illegal for religious organizations to endorse political candidates. Republican candidate for US president, Donald Trump has stated that his administration would allow religious organizations to endorse political candidates without losing their tax-exemption.
Facts for this story were gathered from an article by Emily McFarlan Miller.