This analysis by John Green, of the University of Akron, and Beliefnet is based on the Fifth National Survey of Religion and Politics, conducted June-August 2008 by the University of Akron. The survey produced a national random sample of 4,017 adult Americans (with a margin of error plus or minus 1.5 percent).

via www.beliefnet.com

The study looks at the statistics from the years 2008 and 2004 and analyzes the distributions among the 12 tribes with regard to candidate preference, party identification, and issue priorities.

The 12 tribes are religious right, heartland culture warriors, moderate Evangelicals, white bread Protestants, convertible Catholics, religious left, spiritual but not religious, seculars, Latino Christians, Muslims and others, Jews, and Back Protestants.

Some insight is achieved by evaluating the candidate and party preferences against the backdrop of issue priorities. These are economic issues, foreign policy, and social issues.

Perhaps it indicates that individuals that tend to lean to the left or right do so not because they are conservative or liberal on all issues, but because of the emphasis one party or candidate has in their area of deepest concern.

Since people prefer to define themselves, the larger the number of categories, the better the reading.