When Do Voters Reward Overtly Religious Appeals?

Under what conditions do politicians make overtly religious appeals in front of mixed secular-religious audiences? In the US context, other scholars have argued for the strategic usefulness of multivocal appeals: religious politicians can use coded language to win support from religious voters without losing support from secular ones. However, US politicians often use overtly religious language in their communications to mixed audiences, at the risk of losing support from secular voters. This pattern presents a puzzle that we address using a series of formal models and two large online survey experiments. We argue that when religious-secular cleavages are sensationalized, making religious voters see dangers in placating secular voters, religious voters are more likely to reward overtly religious messages, with no increased penalty for such messages from secular voters. Under these conditions, religious politicians become more likely to use overtly religious language in their political messaging.