Opinion: Democrats and faith: Still unfathomable

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There’s been much ink spilled this campaign about how leading Democrats are trying to ‘level the praying field’ (as Time magazine put it) by talking up their personal faith and reaching out to religious voters, especially evangelical Christians.

So how are evangelical voters responding to those pitches from the left?

We haven’t the foggiest.

In Iowa, surveys asked Republican caucus-goers about their faith and found a groundswell of evangelical support for Mike Huckabee. But the pollsters didn’t talk faith with Democratic voters.

In New Hampshire, an extensive exit poll of voters did ask Democrats what religion they practice and how often they attend services. But Democrats were not asked, as their GOP counterparts were, ‘Would you describe yourself as a born-again or evangelical Christian?’

So no one really knows how many evangelicals might have been attracted to Barack Obama’s personal testimony about accepting Christ as his savior, or Hillary Clinton’s talk ...

about her vibrant prayer life, or John Edwards’ efforts to frame poverty as a moral issue.

In past elections, as many as a third of self-described evangelicals have voted Democratic, so this is a potentially significant bloc.

‘Asking only Republicans about their religion shows that the media is still stuck on the outdated and false notion that evangelical Christians are the GOP’s political property,’ says Katie Barge, a spokeswoman for the liberal group Faith in Public Life. ‘Evangelicals have broadened their agenda to include care for the planet, the poor and the stranger, and as a result are increasingly independent politically.’

Christianity Today, a leading evangelical magazine, echoes the complaint on its blog: ‘This was supposed to be the year the Democrats got religion. Too bad somebody forgot to tell the pollsters.’

So what do we know about the Democrats and the faithful?

In New Hampshire, Obama scored well among voters who said they attend religious services at least once a week. (He drew 38% of their votes, compared with 31% for Clinton and 20% for Edwards.) Those who never attend services also favored Obama over Clinton (39% to 35%). She did better among the middle group -- voters who attend services every now and then. Clinton also had a significant edge over Obama among Catholic voters (44% to 27%.)

On the Republican side, white evangelicals were fairly evenly split among Huckabee, Mitt Romney and John McCain -- a somewhat surprising outcome given that Huckabee, an ordained Baptist preacher, considers that group his loyal base. Catholics divided evenly between McCain and Romney, with Huckabee way behind.

-- Stephanie Simon