8.17 “New type” religious-secular division - sociological accounts of voting

Religious-secular divisions have largely displaced divisions based on religious denomination.

• The migration of relatively traditionalist people from the global South and Middle East to the relatively secularised countries of north-western Europe created a potential for religious-secular divisions of perhaps a new kind.

Whether and how these new divisions affect electoral politics depends on two contingencies:

• the degree to which these migrants are actually included into the electorate;
• whether Christian Democrat or conservative parties try to extend their appeal to these new segments of the electorate.