Young Evangelicals Shifting Left

Young evangelicals are dropping hot-button GOP issues like abortion and gay marriage to embrace less controversial causes, a new survey says. Internet porn, liberal media, and AIDS orphans now top their political hot list, and many young evangelicals who still rank abortion as number one also pick Barack Obama—a pro-choice candidate—for president.

"I mean, you can't really pass judgment on someone because that's their belief," one evangelical said at a recent New York rally. Only 40% of evangelicals under 30 are Republicans, down from 55% two years ago, according to the Pew Research Center study. Analysts say many young evangelicals are also turning to moderate pastors like Rick Warren in place of old-guard conservatives like Pat Robertson and James Dobson. (More evangelicals stories.)