Evangelical Voters
Evangelical voters, which accounts for 14% of all American voters and comprise
the core of the
values voters,
are critical to winning elections: George W. Bush won in 2000 and 2004 by keeping evangelical voters
united, while
Barack Obama and
Bill Clinton won in 2008 and 1992 & 1996, respectively, by splitting and
siphoning away some of the evangelical voters.
What makes the evangelical voters so crucial to winning the White House is that
besides influencing the non-evangelical vote
rs within the
conservative vote, evange
lical vote
rs can be counted on to show up at the polls, rain
or
snow. In the 2008 Iowa primary, for example, the evangelica
l vote
rs comprised only 12% of the state's vote
rs but
60% of the Republican votes cast.
How will the evangelica
l vote
rs influence and be
influenced in 20
12? Will it end up split or unite behind a
Christian candidate? The answer depends
to a large extent on the quality of the
2012 presidential candidates. After initially looking promising, the field
looks stronger in quantity than in quality.
An even more fundamental question is what issues should unite the evangelica
l vote
rs
in 20
12.
Is it the pro-life issues of banning
abortion
and stem cell research, as well as
homosexual "marriage", or should the focus be broadened to include
healthcare,
economy, poverty, etc.?
The rest of the
Christian voter guide addresses these and other
'evangelica
l'
issues,
as well as the
Presidential candidates from the perspective of the "
Evangile", a French
Huguenot word
that means "Gospel" and which dates back to the early years of the Reformation.
