Suzanne Sataline, with the Wall Street Journal, wrote an article today titled, "For Some Evangelicals, GOP Ties are No Longer Binding." In some ways, after several months of analyzing the Christian vote, this kind of article is old news. On the other hand, the interviews and facts, which Sataline includes, portray quite well the changing dynamics of the evangelical vote. The first quote is from a 55 year old woman, who went on a mission trip and came back considering "other solutions." She is now thinking of becoming an Independent. The following statistics are mentioned throughout the article:
The evangelical vote makes up about a quarter of the electorate.
President George W. Bush received 78% of this voting bloc in 2004.
A third of that number will either vote Democratic or independent this November.
40% of evangelicals are open to being persuaded to vote Democratic.
70% of white evangelicals support McCain , 12 points less than the percentage of support for President Bush four years ago.
17% of white evangelicals support Obama
It is remarkable that traveling abroad would have such significant influence on voting behavior, but all the statistics speak to this trend. Sataline also says that about 1.6 million U.S. churchgoers travel on short-term mission trips each year. This phenomenon of "small" shifts away from the Republican Party may be the result of seeing poverty first hand , although the connection between experiencing poverty and greater self-perceived political awareness or knowledge of the party platforms is hard to see. It is doubtful that evangelicals returning from two weeks in Haiti, for example, are suddenly aware of the differences between the two parties or how they intend to improve conditions in less developed countries.