The Washington Post reports that Democrats won a bigger share of the religious vote:
As the results of the midterm elections sank in this week, religious leaders across the ideological spectrum found something they could agree on: The “God gap” in American politics has narrowed substantially.
Religious liberals contended that a concerted effort by Democrats since 2004 to appeal to people of faith had worked minor wonders, if not electoral miracles, in races across the country.
Religious conservatives disagreed, arguing that the Republican Party lost religious voters rather than the Democrats winning them.
Either way, the national exit polls told a dramatic story of changing views in the pews: Democrats recaptured the Catholic vote they had lost two years ago. They sliced the GOP’s advantage among weekly churchgoers to 12 percentage points, down from 18 points in 2004 congressional races and 22 points in the 2004 presidential contest. Democrats even siphoned off a portion of the Republican Party’s most loyal base, white evangelical Protestants.
Considering the diversity in religious people, I’m sure there are many reasons for this. Some are realizing that opposing gay marriage is not necessarily the best way to translate their religious beliefs into public policy. Others have seen the hypocrisy of the Republicans after recent scandals. The view of Republicans as compared to Democrats is certainly changing. A Beliefnet poll of Evangelical Christians showed that thirty percent voted for fewer Republicans than in the past and sixty percent said their view of Republicans has become less positive than in the past. While 52% felt that George Bush was a better Christian than Bill Clinton, about 46% rated them equal or considered Clinton the better Christian. Only 17% viewed Jerry Falwell favorably.
Some are minimizing these trends as Republicans still have the majority of the Evangelical vote. This erosion of support, however small, is significant to destroying the Rove strategy of mobilizing the extreme Republican base to obtain a narrow victory. The less votes the Republicans can achieve from the extremes, the more they need to look towards the center to attempt to win in the future.
