Sunday, February 6, 2005

The values agenda

A Detroit News poll: Public officials/religion and the church/politics by religious importance

How to read crosstabs

     Crosstabs are two-way tables that allow researches to break down data into categories simultaneously, and compare results by number and by percentage. In all, 600 people were polled in Michigan. The crosstabs show both percentages and numbers of individuals. When you see a partial percentage in the tables below, you may need to look up -- or across -- to find what that partial percentage represents. The data has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

Mitchell Research & Communications, Inc. Detroit News Michigan Values Survey January 26-31, 2005

N=600		What worries you more: public officials who don't pay enough attention to religion and religious leaders, or public officials who are too close to religion and religious leaders?				24. In your opinion, should churches and other houses of worship keep out of political matters, or should they express their views on day-to-day social and political questions?
		Don't pay enough attention	Too close to religion	DK/ Refused		Keep out	Express their views	DK/ Refused
Total		243	243	114		244	333	23
		40.5%	40.5%	19.0%		40.7%	55.5%	3.8%
		100.0%	100.0%	100.0%		100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
33. How important would you say religion is in your own life?
Very important		192	93	75		126	218	16
		53.3%	25.8%	20.8%		35.0%	60.6%	4.4%
		79.0%	38.4%	66.4%		52.1%	65.5%	69.6%
Fairly important		41	83	26		64	80	6
		27.3%	55.3%	17.3%		42.7%	53.3%	4.0%
		16.9%	34.3%	23.0%		26.4%	24.0%	26.1%
Not very important		9	44	8		37	23	1
		14.8%	72.1%	13.1%		60.7%	37.7%	1.6%
		3.7%	18.2%	7.1%		15.3%	6.9%	4.3%
Not at all important		1	20	3		13	11	0
		4.2%	83.3%	12.5%		54.2%	45.8%	0.0%
		0.4%	8.3%	2.7%		5.4%	3.3%	0.0%
DK/Refused		0	2	1		2	1	0
		0.0%	66.7%	33.3%		66.7%	33.3%	0.0%
		0.0%	0.8%	0.9%		0.8%	0.3%	0.0%