The importance of white evangelical voters

The mainstream conservative press makes a Steve Saileresque argument about the importance of the white vote to Republicans, only the focus is on white evangelicals and born-again Christians rather than on whites as a whole. According to the Washington Times, white evangelicals and born-agains make up a huge 26 percent of registered voters, while blacks and Hispanics combined make up only 17 percent. Therefore, the Times continues, any marginal increase of support for Republicans among the former group makes a much bigger difference than any comparable increase among blacks and Hispanics. Is Karl Rove listening? Indeed, 51 percent of the white evangelicals and born-agains call themselves Republicans, up from 43 percent four years ago, while the percentage who call themselves Democrats has declined from 24 to 22 percent over the same period.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 27, 2004 09:03 AM | Send