THE CHANGING ELECTORATE OF THE CONFESSIONAL PARTIES - EFFECTS OF SOCIALIZATION AND INTRAGENERATIONAL RELIGIOUS MOBILITY IN THE 1956-1994 ELECTIONS

In this paper, we examine religious voting from a life-course perspect ive. We use recall data collected on the basis of a new and more relia ble interview technique. In general, religious voting has declined ove r time. Church members and regular church-goers are more likely to vot e confessional. These effects have diminished over time. We found that people whose parents voted confessional are more Likely to vote confe ssional. This effect diminishes as they grow older. People who attende d a parochial high school are more likely to vote confessional. Also, the longer ago one abandoned religion, the less likely one is to vote confessional Finally, the explanation for the increasing number of sec ular voters casting a confessional vote is not related to the fact tha t non-religious voters started to vote confessional to a greater exten t, but more to the fact that the group of non-religious voters became larger.