Masters Thesis

A generational shift in evangelical Christian partisanship

Since the 1980s, evangelical Christians have been a steady and reliable voting bloc for the Republican Party. Since around 2004, however, the media began to take notice of a trend occurring among evangelical youth (between 18 and 30 years old) – namely the rise of the young evangelical Democrat. It is alleged that younger generations of evangelicals are shifting their policy preferences to include an increased concern for social justice issues like poverty, and environmentalism which is what is driving this shift towards the Democratic Party. This thesis analyzes data from the General Social Survey from 2000 through 2012 and shows that a shift in partisanship towards the Democratic Party among evangelical youth is occurring. However, increased support for environmental sustainability and assistance to the poor over time are shown to have less conclusive results.

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