Religion, Race, and Barack Obama's New Democratic Pluralism

"Gastón Epinosa and his coauthors have written a remarkably insightful book on key determinants of the vote in the 2008 presidential elections. In examining the complex relationship between religion, race, ethnicity, gender and cultural values, the authors challenge numerous conventional clichés about the role of religion in American politics and demonstrate how Barack Obama was able to close the electoral "God gap" that used to favor the Republican party. Obama’s skillful outreach program towards Catholic and Protestant Latino voters, his promotion of faith-friendly public policies and his uncanny ability to "speak Catholic" on social issues and to court evangelical voters with his "conversion narratives" explain a good part of his success. Can this success be replicated in 2012? The eleven chapters of this well researched book give conflicting responses to this key question and make the book a must read for political analysts."

—Denis Lacorne, Center for International Studies and Research (CERI) at Sciences Po University

"Gastón Epinosa and his coauthors have written a remarkably insightful book on key determinants of the vote in the 2008 presidential elections. In examining the complex relationship between religion, race, ethnicity, gender and cultural values, the authors challenge numerous conventional clichés about the role of religion in American politics and demonstrate how Barack Obama was able to close the electoral "God gap" that used to favor the Republican party. Obama’s skillful outreach program towards Catholic and Protestant Latino voters, his promotion of faith-friendly public policies and his uncanny ability to "speak Catholic" on social issues and to court evangelical voters with his "conversion narratives" explain a good part of his success. Can this success be replicated in 2012? The eleven chapters of this well researched book give conflicting responses to this key question and make the book a must read for political analysts."

—Professor Denis Lacorne, Center for International Studies and Research (CERI) at Sciences Po University, Paris, France