Embattlement and Resilience Among White Evangelical Democrats

Levi G. Allen
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Abstract

Why do individuals defect from the partisan pull of their social identities? Previous explanations of social sorting often neglect to account for these defectors whose partisanship cannot be explained by simply tallying up their social identities. I call these individuals political heretics. To better understand this phenomenon, I leverage white evangelicals, one of the most socially and politically sorted groups in the United States, who support the Democratic Party as a case study. I find that, based upon 68 face-to-face interviews across seven churches, two explanations emerge that explain their heresy. First, some find their way into Democratic congregations that shield them from the pressure exerted by residing in a religious tradition that has undergone extensive political sorting. Second, some choose to remain in predominately Republicans churches and offset the cost of this political pressure with some other benefit. However, for those who choose the latter, electing to remain in a church where they are in the political minority, they face significant headwinds to either update their political preferences or leave. Despite these embattled defectors choosing to remain in Republican congregations, the pressure of polarization may eventually force them out.
白人福音派民主党人的不安与复原力
为什么个人会脱离其社会身份的党派拉力?以往对社会排序的解释往往忽略了这些叛离者,而这些人的党派倾向是无法通过简单地统计其社会身份来解释的。我称这些人为政治异端。为了更好地理解这一现象,我将支持民主党的白人福音派教徒--美国社会和政治排序最高的群体之一--作为案例进行研究。我发现,根据对 7 个教会进行的 68 次面对面访谈,有两种解释可以解释他们的异端行为。首先,有些人进入了民主党教会,从而避免了因居住在经过广泛政治分化的宗教传统中而受到的压力。其次,有些人选择留在以共和党人为主的教会,用其他好处来抵消这种政治压力的代价。然而,对于那些选择后者,即选择留在一个他们在政治上属于少数派的教会的人来说,他们面临着巨大的阻力,要么更新自己的政治偏好,要么离开。尽管这些陷入困境的叛逃者选择留在共和党教会,但两极分化的压力最终可能会迫使他们离开。
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