Exit polls: Many churchgoers voted Democratic
Posted November 14, 2006
The Democratic party is making inroads among regular churchgoers, according to national exit polls. After voting Republican by lopsided margins in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004, churchgoers were increasingly willing to vote Democratic in 2006.
Last week, people who attend religious services weekly voted Republican by a 12-point margin - down sharply from 2004, when the so-called "God gap" was 22 points.
The 2006 breakthrough was crucial. Without the shift, Republicans almost certainly would have held onto the United States Senate.
The liberal People for the American Way Foundation trumpeted the news in a press release this week.
White evangelicals still voted overwhelmingly Republican (70 percent.) But they're increasingly concerned about where the U.S. is headed, PFAW reports. An August poll showed that 69 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Among white evangelicals, 68 percent said the nation is moving in the wrong direction.
As a lifelong Southern Baptist and a moderate Democrat I find many of my friends voting Democratic. For too long the Republicans have bought off our churches. The Southern Baptist Convention stood silent whenever Nancy Regan brought a lady into the White House to read the stars claiming to foretell the future, the Baptist have taught againist this for years, but said nothing. Whenever President Bush just recently made the statement that all of us pray to the say God referring to Muslim and Christians as having the same God, the Southern Baptist Convention remained silent publicly but I bet were saying plently behind closed doors. The hypocrisy of our churches is what voters are finally seeing. Mark Tarter