Evangelical Democrats and role conflict.

Evangelical Protestants have increasingly aligned with the Republican Party in their voting patterns and opinions since the late 1970’s. As a result, this alignment of Evangelical Protestantism with the GOP could present a dilemma for Evangelical Democrats, whose religious and political identities are perceived by many to be in conflict with one another. The present study tests whether Evangelical Democrats seek to avoid role conflict by having lower levels of investment in either the religious or political components of their lives. Results find that Evangelical Democrats avoid role conflict by maintaining a lesser adherence to the religious component of their identity. In a final analysis, Evangelical Democrats are found to attend church significantly less than Democrats of other religious traditions while maintaining religious beliefs that are more conservative than these Democrats. Implications for role conflict among Evangelical Democrats are discussed.