CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SAN FRANCISCO

A study suggests that church attendance and political ideology played a greater role than race in determining whether voters supported California’s constitutional ban on gay marriage.

The study published Tuesday by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force concluded that strongly held religious beliefs accounted for the greater support the measure secured among black and Latino voters compared with whites and Asians.

The report, based on a postelection survey and precinct-by-precinct analysis of counties with the largest black populations, also challenged an election day exit poll that estimated 70% of African American voters cast ballots in favor of Proposition 8. The researchers, Patrick Egan of New York University and Kenneth Sherrill of Hunter College, say 57% to 59% of black voters favored the gay marriage ban.