Nature vs. nurture reconsidered

I listened to a blurb on National Public Radio the other day, in which a reporter visited a traditionally Catholic Ohio neighborhood and asked its residents about their voting intentions for the US presidency.

It got me thinking. True, it is sometimes a mistake and even can lead to terrible evils, to stereotype an entire religious culture as thinking or acting in one predictable way. But there are some patterns that do emerge and it makes me wonder: do people tend to develop their political outlook because of their religious backgrounds or do people tend to adopt a religion because it fits more comfortably with their inner political/cultural feelings?

And then what happens if they convert to another faith? If a lapsed Catholic becomes a fiery Evangelical, do their probable laissez faire politics get born again as well? Out West, for example, Mormons are known as a very conservative group, reliably Republican, pro-life, etc. Yet the current Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, who does not fit that bill at all, is a Mormon -- although an adult convert to the faith.