According to new studies, President Obama’s electoral victory in the 2012 election cycle was greatly helped by his massive victory with a previously unnoticed voting bloc: the irreligious. While statisticians focus on the impact of the Hispanic vote in swing states, it turns out that those who do not attend church and consider themselves religiously unaffiliated broke huge for President Obama in the swing states. Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer pointed out:

In Ohio, Obama lost the Protestant vote by 3 points and the Catholic vote by 11, but he won the "nones" — 12 percent of the state's electorate — by 47 points.

In Virginia, Obama lost Protestants by 9 points and Catholics by 10 points, but won 76 percent of the "nones," who were 10 percent of the electorate.

In Florida, Obama lost Protestants by 16 points and Catholics by 5 points, but captured 72 percent of the "nones." They were 15 percent of the electorate.

Similar results were seen in states including Michigan, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

Nationally, Mitt Romney carried religious voters by a wide margin, particularly Protestants (+15) and Catholics (+2). The irreligious voters said their top priorities were same-sex marriage and abortion. It was no coincidence when the Democratic Party tried to remove God from the platform – and it didn’t hurt them overall.