hillary3.jpgHere’s what Hillary Clinton’s faith outreach director just said about Clinton’s victory tonight in Virginia via email:

There continues to be no emerging trend lines other than the one established at the beginning of the Democratic Primary: American faith and values voters connect with and support Senator Clinton. Tonight in West Virginia there is no difference.

But is it true?
Sure, Clinton’s enjoyed a huge advantage among white religious voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. But Clinton’s West Virginia landslide owed little to the God gap. Clinton won weekly and more-than-weekly churchgoers by 60-percent and 66-percent, respectively. Impressive. But she won similar proportions of infrequent churchgoers and those who sleep in on Sundays–who typically comprise Obama’s base–claiming 70-percent and 63-percent of those voters, respectively.

No God gap there.
And Catholics, among whom Obama has been trounced by Clinton in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, broke for Clinton by a much smaller margin in West Virginia, by 52-percent to 45-percent.
Sure, Hillary shellacked Obama in West Virginia today. But religion may have played a smaller role than expected.


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