Religious Influences on Voting Behavior During the 54th Session of the Montana State Legislature: Catholics and the Religious Right

Abstract

There has been a great deal of interest in religious influence on voting behavior among legislators during the election of 1994 and to the present. This project explored the influence of Roman Catholic social justice teachings on the Catholic and religious right members of the Montana legislature in 1995. The relationship between religious affiliation of the legislators and voting was explored using the voting records of the Montana State legislators on several bills monitored by the Montana Catholic Conference, the liaison for the Montana bishops to the legislature. The votes were controlled for sex, political party, area of the state in which legislators reside, and occupation.