New Book Explores Connections Between Politics, Business, and Religion

49%

of Protestant suburbanites who attend church at least weekly identify as Democrats or independents.

--From Applebee's America by ex-Bill Clinton aide Douglas Sosnik, Bush strategist Matthew Dowd, and journalist Ron Fournier. The book traces common qualities in successful leaders from politics, business, and religion. Some of its other findings:

• People make choices about politics, consumer goods, and religion with their hearts, not their heads.
  
• Successful leaders touch people at a gut level by projecting basic American values that seem lacking in modern institutions and missing from day-to-day life experiences.
  
• The most important Gut Values today are community and authenticity. People are desperate to connect with one another and be part of a cause greater than themselves. They're tired of spin and sloganeering from political, business, and religious institutions that constantly fail them.