Political

The (non) religious basis of Liberal Democrat support

A new poll commissioned by Theos, the public theology think tank, shows an interesting light on the religious background to party support in Britain.

In particular, of the Liberal Democrats it finds:

The Liberal Democrats poll best amongst people who say they do not belong to any religion, scoring 26% compared to 20% overall and 18% amongst Christians…

The poll also shows a gender divide in attitudes towards religion with women less likely than men to say their religious beliefs do not really influence their life (40% – 53%).

The overall picture is of religion having more influence on women and also more influence on people more likely to vote, but Liberal Democrats doing less well amongst more religious people. There may of course be some overlapping factors at work (e.g. women live longer on average and older people are more likely to vote), but given how the party’s key floating voters are usually predominantly female, this throws up some interesting questions about the party’s sources of strength and weakness.

You can read more over on the Theos website.

Note: I do work with Theos with my Mandate Communications hat on.

0 responses to “The (non) religious basis of Liberal Democrat support”

  1. “…with women less likely than men to say their religious beliefs do not really influence their life…”

    What a painful double negative! Does it mean that women feel their lives are more affected by their religious beliefs than men do? Might this explain why the Tories have traditionally done better among female voters?

  2. I read this three times and still don’t understand it; the wording does not seem to make complete sense to me.

    I myself am a woman, a Christian and a Liberal Democrat. I think that the reason why (If that IS what is being said here) fewer Liberal Democrats have a religious allegiance could be that Liberal Democracy actually has a moral code of its own, the freedoms of the preamble to the constitution, and is therefore a quasi-religion in its own right. I use “quasi” in the sense or “similar to” not “artificial”.

    I find I can balance being a woman, a Christian and a Liberal Democrat; in fact I believe that Liberal Democracy is based largely on Christian principles. Life isn’t necessarily meant to be simple.

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