Turns out that not only are we huge, angry racists, Latino voters are also racists… but for religion! Whatever that is called! We are it. On the whole, Catholic Hispanics show a greater support for Barack Obama, whereas Protestant or some other non-Catholic Christian faith show more support for John McCain. Check out the numbers:

An examination of interviews with registered voters conducted between Oct. 1 and Oct. 19 shows Obama leading among all Hispanic registered voters by a 62% to 30% margin. (For purposes of this analysis, Hispanics are those who say “yes” when asked “Are you, yourself, of Hispanic origin or descent such as Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or some other Spanish background?”)

Catholic Hispanics, who make up 50% of all Hispanic registered voters in this October sample, support Obama by a substantial 65% to 26% margin. But the one-third of Hispanics who identify their religion as Protestant or another non-Catholic Christian faith support Obama by only 51% to 41%.

Perhaps Catholic lie because they have auricular confession with a priest? And can get away with it? There also seems to be a difference in voting preference among Hispanics who regularly attend church and those who are damned to eternal hellfire and fork-pokings:

There is also a significant difference in presidential candidate choice among Hispanics by religiosity. Hispanic voters who attend church weekly support Obama by a 51% to 40% margin, compared to a 57% to 33% margin among those who attend nearly every week or monthly, and an overwhelming 72% to 21% margin among those who seldom or never attend church.

This is sort of the opposite of what we imagined, particularly where abortion is concerned. Then again, Sarah Palin (and what’s-his-face that she’s running with) have really been catering to Evangelicals and her fellow Pentecostals. Someone with whom we were discussing this also made a good point: For many Hispanic Catholics, religion might be more cultural than anything else, whereas for Hispanic Protestants who have more recently converted to their religion, religious practice and doctrine are more immediate.

What do you make of these polls? A steeple? Are you surprised by these findings or are they in line with what you’d expect?

Hispanic Voters Divided by Religion [Gallup]