Are Catholic Republicans More Liberal Than Protestant Republicans?, a comment:
A lot of people call themselves “Catholic” who really don’t even go to Church and who deny many Catholic Church teachings…ergo… the author’s conclusion is VERY flawed.
This is a plausible hypothesis. In fact, I wonder if the comment was left by God, because they clearly know who a real “Catholic” is, and are also aware that people who call themselves Protestants are “real” Protestants. In fact, in the comments of most political blogs opinions expressed have the voice of God, because stupidity does not exist in democratic discourse. But I know how to use web forms, so I checked political ideology of those with “Strong Republican” identities in the GSS. I limited the years to 1988 and after for contemporary relevance, and to whites. I broke them down into Catholics and Protestants who attend church at different rates. Results below.
A caution about the sample sizes for some classes. But yes, more religious Catholics are more conservative, but the tendency is stronger among Protestants. Of course, Catholics who attend church nearly every week may not be “orthodox” in their beliefs, so who knows if they’re “real” Catholics.