Religious constituencies and support for the Christian right in the 1990s

Objective. In the 1980s, the Christian right was plagued by religious parti cularism among its core constituencies, which undermined its political effe ctiveness. However, the relative success of the "second generation" of move ment in the 1990s suggests that religious particularism may be less of a fa ctor. Methods. We investigate the impact of religious particularism on supp ort for the Christian right by using surveys of state-level Republican Part y activists from the mid-1990s. Results. We find that religious particulari sm is less common among backers of the contemporary Christian right than re ported in the past. However, another division is evident, conflict between religious traditionalists and religious liberals and seculars. Conclusions. The Christian right is both more united and faced with a more united oppos ition as the century ends.