Evangelicals: Love ‘em or leave ‘em?
There’s been a lot of talk this election season about evangelicals. As Americans prepare to head to the voting booths, we’ve all seen the headlines: Evangelicals are for McCain, Evangelicals get behind Palin, Evangelicals sceptical of Obama.
A new study by the Barna Group takes a look at what Americans think about evangelicals — what non-evangelicals think about this group and what evangelicals think about themselves.
According to the Barna survey, evangelicals are “perceived with a mix of skepticism and respect.
“Americans are not always sure what to make of evangelicals, but they believe the voting bloc has significant influence.”
Barna took a look at eight perceptions of evangelical voters and four of the statements represented the most widely held views:
- That evangelicals will have a significant influence effect on the election outcome (59 percent of American adults said this was either “very” or “somewhat accurate” regarding evangelical voters);
- That evangelicals will cause the political conversation to be more conservative (59 percent;
- That they will be spend too much time complaining and not enough time solving problems (59 percent);
- And that they will be misunderstood and unfairly described by news media (56 percent).
Barna found this to be surprising: Only half of Americans (52 percent) felt that evangelical voters would focus primarily on homosexuality and abortion.
Meanwhile, roughly half said that evangelicals will minimize social justice issues (47 percent) and another 47 percent felt they believe that evangelicals will vote overwhelmingly Republican. Roughly two out of every five Americans (44 percent) believed evangelicals will not approach the election with an open mind.
On the other end of this survey are the self perception of evangelicals.
According to the Barna survey, ”in many ways, they exude both confidence and concern.”
The survey said evangelicals widely contend that they will have a significant influence on the election (84 percent), yet the also firmly believe that they will be misunderstood and unfairly depicted by media (81 percent).
Three-quarters of evangelicals believe their peers will cause the conversation to be more conservative (75 percent). A similar proportion indicates their fellow believers will vote overwhelmingly with the Republican Party (74 percent).
Barna leaders found these statistics intriguing: In all, 48 percent of evangelicals believe it is accurate that their voting peers will focus primarily on abortion and homosexuality, while 45 percent reject this characterization. Also, just 28 percent of evangelicals contend that their tribe will minimize social justice issues, like poverty and immigration; 69 percent of evangelicals disagreed.
Interesting survey, don’t you think?
We are sure to hear more about the influence of evangelicals as the presidential election draws near.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
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