Ted Olsen at Christianity Today, using exit polling results from CNN, reports that among voters who described themselves as “evangelical” or “born again,” Sen. John McCain pulled 74 percent of the vote.
Sen. Barack Obama received only 26 percent, performing about the same among conservative Christians as Democratic standard-bearer John Kerry did in 2004.
(The difference, of course, is that Sen. Obama won, assisted by a strong turnout among black voters. Sen. Obama received nearly 3.3 million more votes from African-Americans than Sen. Kerry did; 2.9 million of them were from voters aged 18-29. Overall, blacks voted 95 percent for Sen. Obama.)
What the exit polls show is that the Obama candidacy, despite an abundance of speculation to the contrary, failed to make significant inroads into the conservative Christian voting bloc, which is strongest in the southeast and south central parts of the country.
(Not surprisingly, these areas are where the United Methodist Church has its strongest conferences and largest jurisdictions).
The poor Democratic showings among evangelicals likely will continue until the Democratic party finally moves toward a less extreme position on abortion. The current position (“we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine [the] right [to an abortion]“) puts the party squarely at odds with the biblical view of the sanctity of unborn human life.
Other polling data indicate that non-evangelical Protestants also favored McCain. In contrast, Sen. Obama ran strong among the irreligious, garnering more than two-thirds of the vote among people who never attend church. He also pulled 53 percent among those who attend worship services only irregularly.
Remarkably, the pro-abortion Sen. Obama captured 53 percent of the Catholic vote, a six-point improvement over Sen. Kerry’s showing in 2004, despite urgent calls from Catholic leaders to vote pro-life. Still, McCain won a majority of Catholics who attend worship regularly.
Jewish voters, a reliably Democratic voting bloc in the U.S., went 77 percent for Obama-Biden, helping the ticket gain wins in New York, California, New Jersey, and Florida. (Jews in Israel, by contrast, are far less sanguine about an Obama presidency.)
Here are the evangelical tallies by state (the first percentage represents the voters in each state who self-identified as evangelical or born again; no data is available for Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont):
- Alabama
46% Evangelical
88% McCain
11% Obama
Obama - Blue | McCain - Red
(by county)
- Arizona
21% Evangelical
77% McCain
23% Obama
- Arkansas
53% Evangelical
72% McCain
25% Obama
- California
17% Evangelical
70% McCain
26% Obama
- Colorado
22% Evangelical
75% McCain
22% Obama
- Florida
24% Evangelical
78% McCain
20% Obama
- Georgia
37% Evangelical
89% McCain
10% for Obama
- Idaho
33% Evangelical
80% McCain
18% Obama
- Illinois
22% Evangelical
59% McCain
40% Obama
- Indiana
41% evangelical
66% for McCain
32% for Obama
- Iowa
30% Evangelical
60% McCain
38% Obama
- Kansas
40% Evangelical
78% McCain
22% Obama
- Kentucky
45% Evangelical
74% for McCain
25% for Obama
- Louisiana
29% Evangelical
87% McCain
9% Obama
- Michigan
27% Evangelical
63% McCain
34% Obama
- Minnesota
28% Evangelical
60% McCain
38% Obama
- Mississippi
43% Evangelical
90% McCain
9% Obama
- Missouri
38% Evangelical
67% McCain
32% Obama
- Montana
30% Evangelical
72% McCain
23% Obama
- Nebraska
30% Evangelical
71% McCain
28% Obama
- Nevada
16% Evangelical
73% McCain
25% Obama
- New Mexico
16% Evangelical
81% McCain
17% Obama
- New York
9% Evangelical
77% McCain
21% Obama
- North Carolina
42% Evangelical
74% for McCain
25% for Obama
- North Dakota
31% Evangelical
73% McCain
26% Obama
- Ohio
30% Evangelical
70% for McCain
29% for Obama
- Oklahoma
52% Evangelical
77% McCain
22% Obama
- Oregon
27% Evangelical
66% McCain
31% Obama
- South Carolina
39% Evangelical
84% for McCain
16% for Obama
- South Dakota
37% Evangelical
63% McCain
33% Obama
- Tennessee
51% Evangelical
75% McCain
22% Obama
- Texas
31% Evangelical
79% McCain
19% Obama
- Utah
No numbers on evangelicals, but Mormons voted 80% for McCain.
- Virginia
27% Evangelical
78% McCain
21% Obama
- Washington
24% Evangelical
64% McCain
32% Obama
- West Virginia
52% Evangelical
64% McCain
34% Obama
- Wisconsin
26% Evangelical
64% McCain
36% Obama
- Wyoming
28% Evangelical
80% McCain
17% Obama
