Same-sex marriage survey: religious belief matched no vote most closely

[Voltaire2]

The same-sex marriage survey revealed a deep divide between Sydney’s western and eastern electorates. The nation and its states recorded an overwhelming yes and only 17 of 150 electorates voted no, but 12 of those were in Sydney’s west. The strongest no vote came from the electorate of Blaxland, where only 26% of people wanted marriage equality. Five other electorates in the area had less than 40% support.

These electorates are some of the most ethnically and culturally diverse in Australia, with high immigrant populations, and that factor has been strongly linked to the no vote.


But the factor that correlated most strongly with a no vote was religious affiliation, not overseas birth. It had a correlation of -0.8, implying a close to 1:1 relationship. The following graphs show the percentage of yes voters in every electorate in the postal survey, mapped against census data for each electorate.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/datablog/2017/nov/17/same-sex-marriage-survey-religion-drove-the-no-vote

[Pope George Ringo II]

1. Don't forget that we're supposed to respect their right to take away others' rights.

Otherwise we're persecuting them.

[guillaumeb]

2. A false framing.

But if it reinforces your beliefs.................

[struggle4progress]

3. Statistics 101: "correlation is not causation"

[Voltaire2]

4. That is true, and nowhere does the article state otherwise.

However if you wish to find bigots, look in churches. Whatever the cause, the correlation is clear.

[Pope George Ringo II]

5. The cause may have something to do with teachings

I can't help but think that a wide variety of religious institutions indoctrinating their followers with the notion that homosexuality is sinful just might have something to do with this trend.