{"id":69,"date":"2008-06-30T17:22:32","date_gmt":"2008-06-30T17:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/06\/how-many-obamagelicals-are-the.html"},"modified":"2008-06-30T17:22:32","modified_gmt":"2008-06-30T17:22:32","slug":"how-many-obamagelicals-are-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/06\/how-many-obamagelicals-are-the.html","title":{"rendered":"How Many Obamagelicals Are There?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The few of us who argued over the years that Democrats would be wise to court evangelicals were usually told that such a strategy was a waste of time and resources. Those pro-life, anti-gay “fundamentalists” would never vote Democratic.
\nBarack Obama has taken a more enlightened view<\/a> courting evangelicals with a vengeance<\/a>.
\nTime to get specific: how many would-be Obamagelicals are there?
\nLet’s start with the bad news for Obama. A recent Wall Street Journal poll had McCain winning 69% of evangelicals, Obama winning 21%, about as well as Bush did. The recent Pew Religious Landscape survey found that 52% describe themselves as conservative while only 11% describe themselves as liberal.
\n61% say abortion should be illegal all or most of the time versus 33% who say it should be legal, and more than twice as many say homosexualilty should be discouraged as said it should be “accepted.”
\nThat’s a steep cliff for a pro-choice, liberal Democrat.
\nOn the other hand, there’s much on the Christian landscape to give Democrats hope. In addition to the 11% who call thesmelves liberal, an impressive 30% of evangelicals call themselves politically moderate. And, according to Pew:<\/p>\n