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Obama Breaks Evangelicals' Grip on Politics

Obama's coalition of religious supporters was defined by "a wild diversity" of faiths

By Gabriel Winant, Newser User

Posted Nov 7, 2008 1:07 PM CST

(Newser) – Listen to too many campaign reporters, and you might forget that there are religious voters out there other than white evangelicals. But, writes Lisa Miller in Newsweek, Barack Obama built a coalition of religious voters by improving Democratic performance with virtually everyone else. “Indeed, it includes almost every committed person of faith except those whose church culture insists on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”

A Pew survey showed that 44% of Americans who regularly attend services voted for Obama, up 9 points from Kerry's showing. "It's very cool that the story is not white evangelicals again," said the leader of a left-leaning evangelical group. Obama got 79% of nonwhite religious voters, 82% of Jews, and 46% of Catholics. Only 23% of white evangelicals voted for him, 3 points below Kerry's mark.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (2)]

Barack Obama speaks to the St. Mark Cathedral congregation on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in January. (AP Photo)

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks with Lynda Estep, the wife of Dr. Wendell Estep, pastor of First Baptist Church, in Columbia, S.C., Sept. 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Brett Flashnick)

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., greets Robert Lawton Pratt after attending a worship service at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Sept. 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Brett Flashnick)

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White evangelicals did not like Kerry, and they do not like Obama. - Lisa Miller

Overall, the religious vote for Obama did not reflect a massive shift in ideology and priorities among evangelicals but rather muscle-flexing by a coalition of others of faith. - Lisa Miller

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Obama Breaks Evangelicals' Grip on Politics