Mixed Reactions

Abstract

This article hypothesizes that religious motivation can explain varied responses to the political use of religious rhetoric. Religious motivation—religion’s place in an individual’s life—is an important determinant of individual behavior and attitude formation, and variation in religious motivation can explain why some religious citizens are attracted to candidates using religious appeals while others are clearly not. Using a survey experiment, this article tests the effect of Judeo-Christian religious language and attempts to isolate differences among the religious in how they respond to religious rhetoric in the American political environment. The goal of this article then becomes twofold. First, it introduces a measure of religious motivation and demonstrates that it is a unique measure of individual difference with independent effects beyond traditional measures of religiosity, personality, and conservatism. The second goal is to demonstrate that religious motivation can explain variance in reactions to religious rhetoric within a campaign environment. Religious individuals respond differently to religious appeals, with some evaluating candidates higher when religious words were used while others rated candidates lower. The types of religious motivation (extrinsic, intrinsic, and quest) are shown to be much better predictors of responses to religious rhetoric than traditional measures of religiosity.