Since the 1980s, Pentecostal and other born again Christian movements
have become increasingly prominent in the public spheres of many
sub-Saharan African states. A dearth of reliable survey data has
constrained investigation of the potential influence of these
religious movements on political attitudes and participation. This
article analyzes original survey data from Zambia, a
majority-Christian nation. These data, from a stratified random
sample of 1,500 Zambians, indicate that Pentecostals do in fact
share partisan preferences and report higher levels of political
interest and participation than other Christians. They are less
likely, however, to contact elected officials—a finding that accords
with ethnographic accounts of Pentecostal pastors as political
interlocutors for their politically mobilized congregations. We
further contextualize and explore the external validity of our
findings using cross-national survey data collected by the Pew Forum
(2010, N = 9,500). We conclude by underscoring the
value of further survey research on religion and politics in the
region.