A new Gallup study out suggest that white evangelicals aren't running away from President Bush or the Republican Party.
All Americans have become less likely over the last three years to identify with the Republican Party, and less likely to approve of the job President Bush is doing. Highly religious Americans have followed this same pattern, but no more -- and no less -- than anyone else. This is particularly true among highly religious white Americans, who have constituted a core base for the Republican Party. Thus, the gap between religious white Americans and whites who are not religious in terms of GOP identification and Bush approval is just as large today as it was in 2004 and 2005. Highly religious white Americans remain one of the strongest pockets of support for the Republican Party in the United States.
To prove the point, Gallup produced the following charts:
What is striking - and unanswered by Gallup -is why there has been such a dramatic decline in church attendance among Republicans. Could it be that Republican faith in Bush was so great that disillusionment with him has literally hurt their faith in God?
While Gallup may be correct in saying religious Republicans have simply grown to dislike the president and the GOP just like all other Americans, that is not proof that the "crack up" in the evangelical movement vis-a-vis the Republican party isn't occurring. This group of people - religious conservatives - are the foundation of the Republican party. They are the group most likely to give, most likely to volunteer, most likely to devote their lives to getting a candidate elected. Losing this group of ultra-devoted followers at the same rate as the rest of America is evidence of a massive crackup. When the base shakes and quakes the building it supports - in this case the GOP - is in grave danger.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
SkipChurch has it right: The premise of David's comment that fewer people are attending church is simply wrong. The poll apparently didn't measure that, and the data don't show that.
What the data shows is that AMONG those who do attend church regularly, support for GW Bush and GOP has declined at the same rate as it has among those who do not regularly attend church. Churchgoers remain more likely than non-churchgoers to affiliate with the Republicans and Bush, but the trends are the same regardless of religiosity.
Bottom line: The data generally contradicts the anecdotal claims of an "Evangelical Crack-Up." And no data supports any large scale defection from church attendance, evangelical, Catholic or otherwise.
Oh now we're also "beer swilling". Donny, you are TOO MUCH.
Please add "beer swilling" to the hedonistic, libertine, Marxist pederast list.
How about Camembert cheese nibbling? Or even "Effete Camembert cheese nibbling".
You can have that one for free.
Take that you beer swilling, effete Camembert cheese nibbling, hedonistic, unrestrained libertine Marxist pederasts!
Oh, some ears in Bel Air are burning!
is effeminate cheese the same as feta cheese?
SkipChurch - thanks for straightening me out!!
Please note that this Gallup report implies the evangelical population is synonymous with the portion of white Americans who attend church regularly.
Although a characteristic of evangelicals is that they are more likely to attend church regularly than mainline Protestants or Roman Catholics, I think it is a mistake to lump all white churchgoers into the category of "evangelical."
By any other measurement method, there are many evangelicals who do not attend regularly and many people who do attend regularly who would not describe themselves or be described by scholars as evangelical.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.