Most and Least Religious States

I learned from this Pew Research article on the Most and Least Religious States that the southern states are the most religious, whereas states in the top north (New England area) are the least religious. Alabama is actually the most religious state in the United States. Researches measured "how religious" someone is by asking them if they pray daily, if they say religion is important in their lives, say they attended worship services once a week, and say they believe in God with absolute certainty. I think political scientists are interested in this information because it gives them an idea on how the states stand politically and how the people vote. The more religious states vote Republican almost every year, whereas the least religious states vote Democrat almost every year. Knowing this information helps political scientists better predict the voting habits of Americans.