Social Studies Lab

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Party Identification and Religion Like it's 1999

¿What portion of Republicans goes to church at least once a week?

  1. How accurate was your prediction?

  2. Is there a statistic in this chart that surprises you the most?

  3. Is there a statistic in this chart that doesn't surprise you?

  4. What is the biggest change in the chart between 2009 and 2013?

  5. How different are Republicans from Democrats in regards to church attendance?

  6. Are the two parties becoming more or less similar to each other?

  7. How do you think this data will affect the 2016 presidential election?

  8. Would you consider the information from the chart good or bad news?

  9. Based on what you know of American history, how different do you think this chart would have been 66 years ago?

  10. What question do you have about this chart?

  11. Given the information from the chart, what would be one major piece of policy that the two parties would likely disagree on?

  12. Do you think that the chart refutes or confirms that idea that the two parties are so different that members of the two parties basically live on different planets.

  13. In the comments section, based on the demographics from the chart, create a "typical" Republican:


Action Extension

Do your own survey of your community, Find 10 people and ask them about their party identification (membership) and frequency of church attendance to determine how similar your community is to the rest of the nation. Share your results with class or on social media.


Learning Extension

Learn more about party identification and religion in this Pew report.