Poll finds left-right split between Catholics and Anglicans

Catholics are the most left-wing Christian denomination while Anglicans are consistently more likely to vote Conservative, new research has found.

In its report, “Voting and Values in Britain”, the think tank Theos has revealed that in the 2010 general election Anglicans were nearly twice as likely to vote Conservative as Catholics. The findings are similar to those of a Tablet survey conducted before the election. The Theos survey found that practising Anglicans were more likely to be right wing than nominal Anglicans, but Catholics were generally found to be left wing regardless of whether or not they practised.

Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative MP who converted to Catholicism from Anglicanism in the 1990s, agreed there was a strong association between tradition and the Anglican Church. “The Anglican Church is always at sixes and sevens,” she said. “Why do people stay with it? Out of tradition and a sense that this is what they should be doing.”

The Theos report was based on an analysis of historic voting data, including material from the British Election Study and British Social Attitudes surveys. All groups of voters identified the economy as the most important political issue in 2010, followed by immigration. Very few saw issues around sexuality, the family and abortion as important.

Ms Widdecombe challenged the view that Catholics tended to be Labour supporters and said that while the Catholic Church once “talked Labour” with regard to issues like the common good, Catholics’ political affiliations changed as they got greater support from Conservative MPs over issues like abortion. “Catholics have got to decide where their ­priorities are,” she said.

The group Christians on the Left, formerly the Christian Socialist Movement, pointed out that members of the Church of England were frequently involved in left-wing politics, citing a recent report by the cross-party think tank Demos that people of faith tended in general to be politically left of centre.

Stephen Beer, political communications officer for Christians on the Left, said that the Theos report challenged the Church as a whole to think more politically, “whatever [your] political party or view”.