Moral Issues Meet Unmovable Objects: A Review of Churn in American Religion and Politics

Abstract In Moral Issues: How Public Opinion on Abortion and Gay Rights Affects American Religion and Politics, Goren and Chapp investigate the role of attitudes about moral issues within the mass public in the United States shaping Americans' political and religious identities. Their work is positioned as contributing to core debates in the field of political behavior concerning issue attitudes. Namely, mainstream political science research maintains that issue attitudes have minimal effects on political behavior and core identities, a view Goren and Chapp's work challenges. This article reviews the core debates and their findings regarding the special impact of moral issues in recent decades. They find evidence consistent with their theory that Americans' views about moral issues have solidified over time and now are strongly associated with both partisanship and religious disaffiliation. In doing so they breathe new life into classic debates.