If Republicans win control of the Senate in the midterm elections they should say a prayer of thanks for Christian conservatives.
Although they get little attention from candidates, white evangelical Christian voters are likely to be fundamental to any Republican victories in the key Senate races, especially in the South.
Reuters/Ipsos polling data shows evangelicals are more enthusiastic than the general population about the midterms.
The religious right’s influence may be much reduced since the days of Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell’s alliances with Republican presidents.
But Christian conservatives will probably vote in greater numbers on November 4 than others, giving them an outsized say in who runs Congress. Forty-nine per cent of evangelicals say they have a great deal of interest or quite a bit of interest in news about the elections, compared to 38 per cent of non-evangelicals.
“It strongly shows that the evangelical population is very engaged, very interested in what’s happening and much easier to turn out for an election than the population as a whole,” said Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson.
Almost 40 per cent of Republicans said they were born-again or evangelical Christians, according to the online survey.
The party loyalty is striking given that Republican candidates have largely avoided evangelicals’ pet topics like opposition to abortion and gay marriage for fear of alienating moderate voters in tight US Senate races… Read More