Who Would Jesus Vote For?

Abraham Lincoln said he didn't claim that God was on his side in the Civil War -- he humbly prayed that he was on God's side. Bush has no such modesty of course. But a new LA Times article shows trouble in evangelical land.

"An estimated 80% of the evangelical vote went to Bush in 2000," says the LA Times. "But Bush's senior political strategist, Karl Rove, said after the 2000 election that the president might have won the race against Democrat Al Gore by a comfortable margin had 4 million more evangelicals gone to the polls rather than sitting out the election...."

"A poll published last week by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 70% of self-described evangelicals or born-again Christians planned to vote for the president, down from 74% in the same survey three weeks earlier. That was not only a slight decline, but lower than the 80% to 90% support that Bush campaign officials had been forecasting."

In other words, the support for Bush among evangelical groups is lower than 2000 -- when he lost the popular vote -- and in serious freefall. They got 80% last time and hoped to get 90%. Now they're looking at 70%. That is a major, major problem for Bush. And his recent pandering -- I don't hate gay people, that General was naughty to say we're fighting a holy war against Satan -- ain't gonna help.

By the way, as John has pointed out before, evangelicals are not some monolithic group. A significant minority support a woman's right to choice. 1 out of 5 that voted in 2000 did NOT vote for Bush.

All in all, it's the Good News for Kerry.