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Voting Behaviour and the Ethnic-Religious Variable: A Study of A Federal Election in Hamilton, Ontario

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Grace M. Anderson
Grace M. Anderson*
Affiliation:
Acadia University
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Extract

Although much interest has been manifested lately in voting behaviour in Canadian elections no recent study attempts to segregate the religious and the ethnic variables. Moreover, when the religious-ethnic variable is considered as a single component, other differences such as socio-economic status, education, median age, and sex-ratio of the groups concerned are commonly slighted. This paper summarizes an attempt to examine the variables of religious affiliation and ethnicity separately, while at the same time controlling for other relevant variables.

The data used in this study were collected in the “North End” district of the city of Hamilton, Ontario, in May and June, 1962, immediately prior to the federal election. The district selected is a working class area inhabited by many English- and some French-speaking Canadians and by immigrants from many European countries. It is relatively homogeneous with regard to income and style of life. Geographically, the area's boundaries are those of census tract 14. It is bordered on the north and west by Lake Ontario and on the south and east by a railway. The area is thus somewhat segregated and distinct from the rest of the city. To make the sample as fully representative as possible the probability sample method was employed. In this method every unit in the sample has an equal opportunity of being selected to be interviewed. It was carried out as follows: (1) All households located in the area to be studied were numbered in the order they are listed in the 1961 Vernon City Directory, i.e., by streets in alphabetical order. There were 2208 households listed. (2) 400 random numbers, without duplications, were selected, all of which fall between 0001 and 2208. (3) Households bearing these numbers (in our numbering of the directory) represent the sample. (4) Case numbers from 1 to 400 were assigned arbitrarily. In households where both resided, male respondents were to be interviewed in households designated by even numbers, and female respondents in households designated by odd numbers. (5) The sample is of households, not of families or buildings or persons.

Le comportement du voteur et les variables ethniques et religieuses: une etude de l’election federale dans hamilton, ontario

Le Comportement du Voteur et les Variables Ethniques et Religieuses: Une Etude de L’Election Federale dans Hamilton, Ontario

Dans les études récentes sur le comportement du voteur aux élections canadiennes, l'influence de l'affiliation religieuse et ethnique en tant que variables distinctes, n'a pas été étudiée empiriquement. La recherche que nous avons faite consiste en une tentative pour distinguer ces deux variables importantes. Les données ont été recueillies dans un quartier ouvrier de Hamilton, en Ontario, au moment de l'élection fédérale. Un échantillon des ménages de ce quartier a été tiré au hasard. Les individus furent interviewés par un personnel qualifié utilisant des questionnaires standardisés. Les réponses furent regroupées selon les affiliations religieuses suivantes: catholique romain, anglican, et autres dénominations protestantes majeures. Les préférences du voteur furent établies à partir des réponses données à la question suivante: « S'il y avait eu aujourd'hui une élection fédérale, pour quel parti politique auriez-vous voté ? » On a vérifié les cinq hypothèses suivantes: (1) la majorité des Catholiques exprimera une préférence pour le parti libéral ; ( 2 ) les Anglicans appuyeront le parti conservateur ; (3) les autres dénominations protestantes majeures appuyeront principalement le parti conservateur ; (4) les groupes d'âge plus jeunes seront moins enclins à voter sur la base de leur affiliation religieuse que les groupes d'âge plus vieux ; (5) le nouveau parti démocratique sera principalement appuyé par les jeunes citadins de religion protestante. Les données empiriques recueillies vérifient nettement les cinq hypothèses.

Les sujets de chacun des trois groupes religieux furent par la suite subdivisés selon qu'ils étaient d'origine ethnique britannique ou non-britannique. Le comportement des sujets d'origine britannique des trois groupes religieux fut alors étudié. L'affiliation religieuse demeure un facteur très significatif en ce qui concerne les préférences du voteur même quand la variable ethnique est constante. Pour étudier l'influence implicite de l'ethnicité sur la variable « religion », cette dernière à son tour a été tenue constante. Ainsi l'échantillon des catholiques romains fut divisé selon les origines ethniques suivantes: britannique, italien, canadien-français, européen de l'Est et du Sud-Est, irlandais, et autres. Dans chaque groupe ethnique la majorité des catholiques romains exprimèrent une préférence pour le parti libéral.

Il ressort de notre étude que, dans cette région du Canada tout au moins, l'affiliation religieuse est plus étroitement liée aux préférences du voteur que lethnicite, de même que de toute autre variable analysée, y compris la génération immigrante, l'âge, le revenu, l'éducation, l'origine rurale ou urbaine, et le sexe. Les données ont indiqué aussi que le pourcentage exprimant les préférences pour le parti libéral s'amenuise avec la décroissance du caractère hiérarchique de la dénomination religieuse. Ainsi en est-il du pourcentage total du vote non-conservateur qui décroît avec la baisse du niveau d'organisation hiérarchique dans le groupe religieux.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , February 1966 , pp. 27 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1966

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References

1 See Meisel, John, ed., Papers on the 1962 Election (Toronto, 1964)Google Scholar; Alford, Robert, Party and Society: The Anglo-American Democracies (Chicago, 1963).Google Scholar

2 An expansion of this paper can be found in Anderson, Grace M., “The Relationship between Religious Affiliation and Secular Attitudes and Behaviour,” chap, v, MA thesis, McMaster University, 1964.Google Scholar Appreciation is expressed to Dr. Frank E. Jones, the thesis adviser, for his many suggestions and constructive criticisms.

3 This study was directed and planned by Frank G. Vallee and Peter C. Pineo. It is a secondary analysis of the “McMaster Study of Life in the City” and is also known as “The North End Study.”

4 For further details see Pineo, Peter C., “Preliminary Report, North End Study; Analysis of the Marginals,” mimeo (Ottawa: Carleton University, 1963).Google Scholar

5 See Pineo, Peter C., “Research Design: North End Study,” Social Planning Council of Hamilton, Ontario, 09 1962.Google Scholar

6 See especially Meisel, John, “Religious Affiliation and Electoral Behaviour: A Case Study,”: in Blishen, Bernard et al., Canadian Society (Toronto, 1961).Google Scholar See also Jewett, Pauline, “Voting in the 1960 Federal By-Elections at Peterborough and Niagara Falls,” this Journal,; XXVIII, no. 1 (02 1962), 35–53.Google Scholar

7 X 2 was calculated using the upper three rows of the first three columns of Table Ia. The theoretical distribution of “expected” frequencies was as follows:

8 The measure of “effect parameters” is arrived at by calculating the average percentage difference for both columns and rows, separately, and then subtracting the smaller from the larger percentage. For further details see, Michael, John A., “High School Climates and Plans for Entering College,” Public Opinion Quarterly, 25 (winter, 1961), 585–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The calculation of “effect parameters” is given on page 591n. The measure of the difference of influence of two variables, runs from 0 to 100 per cent.

9 Meisel, , “Religious Affiliation and Electoral Behaviour,” 341 Google Scholar, and Jewett, , “Voting in the 1960 Federal By-Elections,” 48.Google Scholar

10 See Meisel, , “Conclusion: An Analysis of National (?) Results” in Papers on the 1962 Election.Google Scholar

11 See Table VI.

12 See Anderson, , “Religious Affiliation and Secular Attitudes and Behaviour,” 96ff.Google Scholar

13 Frequency of church attendance was determined by asking, “How often do you go to church?” The “high attenders” are those respondents who stated that they attend church with a frequency of at least three times a month. The “low attenders” include all those who attend church less than three times a month.

14 “See Party and Society, 139 ff.

15 See Lenski, Gerhard, The Religious Factor (New York, 1963), esp. 23–24 and 335–6.Google Scholar

16 American Sociological Review, 27 (02 1962), 112–13.Google Scholar

17 Herberg, Will, Protestant, Catholic, Jew (New York, 1960).Google Scholar

18 Party and Society, 250ff.

18 Clark, S. D., Church and Sect in Canada (Toronto: 1948)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Movements of Political Protest in Canada, 1640-1840 (Toronto, 1959).Google Scholar

20 See Alford, , Party and Society, 139 ff.Google Scholar

21 Party and Society, 276.