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Christianity Today, March (Web-only), 2008 |

Do Evangelicals Really Prefer Hillary to Obama? No One Knows For Sure

Without exit-poll data for Democrats, reliable data is hard to come by.

Sarah Pulliam | posted 3/03/2008 09:44AM

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"You see a lot of people responding to Obama's hopeful message, unifying approach to politics," Sapp said. "Others are looking at Hillary's work with poverty, and children's health care, and her emphasis on abortion reduction."

Sapp believes that because James Dobson and other conservative leaders have denounced leading Republican candidate John McCain, it may spur Republican evangelicals to consider the Democratic candidates.

"Religion is a significant part of who Obama and Clinton are and what they're talking about it, especially compared to what we have on the other side with the Republicans so far," he said.

But Sapp said the Democrats may still have a hurdle to overcome. "They will have to continue to push back on that narrative that the Republicans have a Christian candidate and Democrats are against people of faith."

While Clinton leads among evangelicals in professional polls, Christian websites' online reader polls are favoring Obama. While such surveys are notoriously unscientific, several have gained some mainstream media attention.

A February online poll by Relevant magazine asked readers, "Who would Jesus vote for?" Obama took a strong lead (29%) over Clinton (2%) among the Democratic candidates. An online GodTube poll similarly shows Barack Obama (20%) ahead of Hillary Clinton (8%) for the Democrats. Christianity Today's last online poll, which ran February 7–8, listed all of the remaining candidates on both sides of the race. One quarter (24%) of those who took the poll said they supported Obama at 24 percent, higher than McCain's 17% (though Huckabee had 31%). Only 6 percent of the respondents said they were supporting Clinton.

Green hopes the exit polls will change for the March 4 primary, since many evangelicals live in Texas and Ohio.

"I'm going to continue to pray," Green said. "But I'm not going to hold my breath."

Related Elsewhere:

The Gallup Poll recently released a poll on highly religious Democrats who favor Clinton.

Hillary Clinton received the highest percentage of votes from those who took the Barna poll.

Previous CT coverage includes the following posts from the CT Liveblog:

Yep, Evangelicals Prefer Clinton to Obama | Zogby releases data from pre-election surveys. (Feb. 11)

Survey: Evangelical Democrats Favored Hillary in Mo., Tenn. | One of three evangelical voters voted in the Democratic primaries. (Feb. 11)

Barna Survey's Significance | Where will undecided evangelicals turn? (Feb. 11)

A Christianity Today editorial, also posted today, examines the trend of bashing Hillary.

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John Neilson

Posted: March 13, 2008 2:13 PM

The religious people of this nation can fight over who to vote for, either hillary or barak, thats because their religious. Being religious has nothing to do with doing what God's Word tells us to do. There is no room in a Christians life to believe in abortion, same sex marriages per scripture, why would any christian vote for hillary or barak. If we compromise, why would the Lord bless our country.

Joseph

Posted: March 08, 2008 12:54 AM

(2-3) The principle of headship. Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. a. I praise you brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions: Paul is again speaking sarcastically to the Corinthian Christians. In fact, they did not remember Paul in all things; they disregarded him as they sought fit. Additionally, they did not keep the traditions as they should have. i. Keep the traditions is a scary phrase to many Christians. It brings forth the idea that Christians are to be bound by ancient, outdated traditions in their conduct and worship. But the traditions Paul delivered to the Corinthian Christians were simply the teachings and practices of the apostles, received from Jesus. Paul was not talking about ceremonies and rituals, but about basic teaching

EDWIN

Posted: March 06, 2008 2:03 AM

AS A BELIEVER IN CHRIST I HAVE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS USING THE ENVANGELICAL VOTE TO GET THEM RE-ELECTED INTO OFFICE (AGAIN!) BY PORTRAYING THEMSELVES TO BE SOMETHING THAT THEY ARE NOT. DO NOT BE DECEIVED BY THESE PEOPLE.THE G.O.P.CANDIDATES ARE NOT ANY HOLIER THAN THE OTHER PARTY OR PARTIES.THE G.O.P. DOES NOT REPRESENT THE CHRISTIAN IN ANY WAY EXCEPT IN THEIR CAMPAIGN RHETORIC.SOME OF YOU OUT THERE WOULD HAVE US BELIVE THAT THE G.O.P. IS THE POLITICAL RIGHT ARM OF THE EVANGELICAL VOTING BLOCK. SINCE WE HAVE FREEDOM IN CHRIST I AM LOOKING AT THE POLITICAL LEFT ARM OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT .MAYBE IT WILL MAKE A DEFERENCE AND IN CASE IT DOES NOT I WOULD HAVE AT LEASE EXCERCISE MY FREEDOM OF CHOICE .MY FRIENDS THE LAST TIME I CHECKED THERE WAS MORE THAN ONE PARTY TO CHOOSE FROM. I DO NOT NEED ANY OF MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE FAITH TELLING ME OR BETTER YET ORDERING ME TO VOTE CONSERVATIVE OR REPUBLICAN.THEY SPEAK ON MORAL ISSUES BUT THEIR HEARTS ARE COLD.

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