A surprising new survey out Monday found that more born again Christian voters said they would support a Democratic candidate than a Republican candidate, breaking the long tradition of born-again support for the GOP.
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(Photo: AP IMages / Laramie Boomerang, Andy Carpenean)Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, D-Ill., greets supporters during a
The new Barna study shows that if the general election was held today, 40 percent of all born again adults who are likely to vote in November would choose the Democratic candidate, and only 29 percent would choose the Republican candidate. The remaining 28 percent are currently unsure whom they would support, preferring to vote for a specific candidate rather than strictly along party lines.
“Given the large percentage of undecided voters, it is possible that the Republican candidate might eventually win a majority of the born again vote,” said George Barna, whose firm conducted the national survey. “However, it will not be easy to win them over.”
Barna noted that several factors are working against the Republican candidates including their stance on social issues and the “personal integrity” of some of the contenders.
If the election was held today and all the candidates from both parties were on the ballot, the frontrunners among born again voters would be Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), favored by 20 percent of born again likely voters; Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), favored by 18 percent of voters; and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 12 percent. No other candidate reached double figures.
Thirty percent of born again likely voters said they are still undecided as to who to support.
Similarly, a poll by GodTube.com on Monday showed that Christian voters currently favor Democrats over Republicans. The new poll found that 43.9 percent of Christian voters support the leading two Democratic candidates while 34.7 percent back Republican candidate Mike Huckabee.
Obama received a 35 percent increase in the poll since Jan. 27, 2008, giving him 24.3 percent of the votes. Meanwhile, Clinton received a huge 78 percent increase giving her 19.6 percent of the votes, and Huckabee slipped 37 percent.
“From our poll, it’s clear the candidate’s platforms and political issues are weighing heavily on Christian voters in this election,” said Chris Wyatt, CEO and founder of GodTube. “It appears the Christian vote is still up for grabs, which we’ve seen in the past can swing an election.”
In the Barna survey, evangelicals – a subset of the born again population as defined by the study – showed a higher percentage of support for the Republican nominee.
If the election were held today, 45 percent of evangelicals say they would support the Republican nominee for president, and 11 percent would support the Democratic candidate. Yet perhaps more significantly is the 40 percent of evangelicals that are still undecided.
This figure is shocking, given that 62 percent of evangelicals voted for the Republican candidate in 1992, 67 percent supported the party in 1996 and in 2000, and 85 percent in 2004. Continue >>
Comments
Scara,
You are right. But Jesus also told us to be a light unto the world...a city on a hill that can't be hid. We are to speak the truth. And He didn't say we shouldn't care about what went on here on earth.
I agree that things will get much worse, and probably soon. But not as soon as if we Christians sat around on our thumbs and did nothing. God expects us to have an effect on this world while we're here. After all, He did give this earth to us.
Here's the real problem as I see it. Jesus said we were IN this world but not OF this world. He also said that if His kingdom WERE of this world "...then would my disciples fight". He also made a clear distinction between earthly governments and the Celestial one by saying that we were to "render unto Caesar what belongs to him but render unto God what belongs to Him". Furthermore, the books of Revelation, Daniel, the four Gospels, I&II Thessalonians and many others tell us this world is not going to get better but worse and eventually will end in fire...so why on earth are we so given to meddling with the stuff of earth? Let the heathens have this world and all its folly. Our citizenship is in Heaven! What are we trying to do; "help" God by voting for the "right" candidates so He can then rule and reign?!
Did God stop being sovereign when Bill Clinton sat on the throne? Was he more sovereign because GW Bush was a Republican? Why are we trying to vote in a candidate based on the issues of abortion and gay "marriage" when the Bible teaches that it's a renewed mind and not passed legislation that God is looking for. Let's witness to these folks and then get them saved. That's the one sure way to stop abortions and homosexuality in the good ol' USA and it's the one thing the church is conspicuously lacking in...TRUE WITNESS.
My personal feeling is that we vote folks into office so they can take the weight off of our shoulders in terms of fulfilling the Great Commission.
Bush had 8 years to issue an Executive Order to stop any and all abortions in the US but he didn't. Sure Congress would've overturned it but WHAT A WITNESS THAT WOULD'VE BEEN!
Let the state be the state and the Church the Church.
We were born here but our citizenship is in Heaven.
In the Bible God said choose life: De 30:19 - "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live."
God will judge those guilty of shedding innocent blood: De 19:13 - "Show him no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you."
The Bible says the sin of homosexuality is detestable to God: Le 18:22 -
"'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."
Being pro-life, pro-traditional marriage and anti-sodomy is being on God's side. Jesus said "You will always have the poor with you." So poverty is not paramount. I know, I've survived it. Although, I would never have survived abortion. Neither would I allow the schools to teach my children that sodomy is just another lifestyle...it is a detestable sin.
These values and positions on issues generally resonate with the Republican candidates.
Both Obama and Clinton are pro-abortion and pro-so-called homosexual marriage (state sanctioned sodomy). These are the anti-God positions. They contradict His law.
Christians are not here to make sinners feel good about their sins. We are here to call them to repentance and to take a stand against evil in society. The government is God's agent, Romans 1, and as such should not sanction what God calls sin.
A vote for Hillary or Obama is a vote for moral relativism and evil.
Although I have always voted Republician, I only ID myself as a conservative. However, I have never seen a Democract that has my values. First of all, I am pro-life. Next, I am pro-family and pro-marriage between only a man and woman. These are the values I want my government to support. In addition to those values, I very much care about and minister to the poor through my church. I don't expect the goverment to do that. It is the role of the church not government. My church can get more value from my money in minstering to the poor than the goverment can get. Our government takes three dollars to get only one dollar of service to the needy. That is not good stewardship.
Statistics of Senators running for office by The American Conservative Union:
Obama
2006 – 8
2005 – 8
Years – 2
Life Time Voting Record – 8.0
Clinton
2006 – 8
2005 – 12
Years – 6
Life Time Voting Record – 9.0
McCain
2006 – 65
2005 – 80
Years – 20
Life Time Voting Record – 82.3
ACU tracks a wide variety of issues before Congress, ranging from taxes to spending and national security to abortion. Accordingly, our ratings encompass three general categories: (1) economic and budget matters; (2) social and cultural issues, and (3) defense and foreign policy. ACU endeavors to analyze votes from each category in order to obtain a balanced, comprehensive picture of an individual member's ideological predisposition based upon recorded records.
Each member of the House and Senate is rated on a scale of 0 to 100.
The purpose of the "Rating" is to inform the public, in as unbiased a method as possible, exactly where individual Senators and Members of the House stand on the ideological spectrum from liberal to conservative.
http://conservative.org/archive2/ratingssummary06.asp
Being born-again means that we are in this world but not of this world.
Amen Prophet! Just because a person claims they are born again, are they? When you are born of the Spirit, you walk in the Light as HE is in the Light; and The Word of God says that we should look at the FRUIT of a person's life; that will tell us if they are trusting and obeying God and His Word!
We are born of the flesh and the Spirit. You can know when a person is walking in obedience to God. This doesn't mean we are perfect; but we are being perfected.
How someone could look at the fruit of the democratic candidates lives and say they follow Jesus, I do not see this!
God tells us to not condemn ourselves by what we approve. When people get out there and say, Abortion is okay, sexual immorality is okay, this is not fruit of the Spirit.
When I look at a candidate, I look for someone who is following Jesus Christ; through their lifestyle as well as their talk!
I do not leave my faith at the door of the voting booth. I pray that God's man is elected and I ask The Holy Spirit to guide my choice!
God's will be done, not ours!
Getting back on track, it will be interesting to see where the vote goes as the "Born-agains" take a closer look at Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton given their very liberal social stances - unregulated abortion, legalizing immorality, etc. Also, I heard Mr. Obama making lots of promises of give away programs that just did not make sense in terms of how this would be paid for.
Will be interesting...
My relationship with Jesus Christ goes everywhere with me, it is not something I "check at the door", and NEVER WILL.
cistonga,
You said "As an agnostic, I am here to see what Christian extremists are up to. My concern is the encroachment of religion into government, the courts and the schools. I am a strong advocate of separation of chruch & state. Please keep your religion where it belongs- r church & home. Believe what you will, but dont impose your religious views on others."
This is a Christian website, for Pete's sake! Of course you're gonna find Christians on here speaking the Word of God and their opnions. Duh. This isn't some radical, militant religious site that is used for orchestrating coups and such. Do you find conspiracies around every corner or what?
You are not here to "keep religion out of the government." You are here, as we are, to express your opinion....and nothing more. Quit being so melodramatic. You're just another person, with another opnion.
I could go onto an athiest website and say "My concern is the encroachment of the government into religion." But I don't. Because that would be a lie. Those people who are trying to keep religion out of government with the cry of "separation and church", are in the same breath trying to get the government to control religion. They want to government to control what we can and cannot say or believe. Sounds two-faced to me.
citsonga-
“As an agnostic, I am here to see what Christian extremists are up to. My concern is the encroachment of religion into government, the courts and the schools. I am a strong advocate of separation of chruch & state. Please keep your religion where it belongs- r church & home. Believe what you will, but dont impose your religious views on others.”
I wish you and other naturalists would realize how ridiculous this sounds. Atheism/secularism/humanism is just as much a religion as Christianity or Islam or Hinduism. There’s no such thing as neutrality regarding the kinds of questions that religion (or worldview) tries to answer. These questions include whether or not God exists, what kind of God exists, where/how did everything come from, what happens after we die, where do we get morality from, what is moral, how should we live, why is there evil and suffering, etc. Atheists have answers to each one of these questions and they very clearly affect their public policies and actions, just like it does Christians. All this talk about keeping morality and religion out of government is a smokescreen to avoid the real issue about what the right answers are to these questions. I wish you or some atheist would be honest enough to admit that.
john: "Why do you [atheists] all come here ?"
As an agnostic, I am here to see what Christian extremists are up to. My concern is the encroachment of religion into government, the courts and the schools. I am a strong advocate of separation of chruch & state. Please keep your religion where it belongs- r church & home. Believe what you will, but dont impose your religious views on others.
John,
No, they never leave.
Quote from below: "Born again" is in your boring book of fairy tales? That's nice. I still think growing up makes more sense than being born again.
Who's the one that needs to grow up? You have a Christian news website with a forum that is populated by immature atheists. Why do you all come here? Maybe what mommy taught you does not seem right, and your exploring Christianity? Hope so. If anyone should grow up, it is self centered, childish idiots like you that have nothing better to do than polluting this forum with your anti God attacks. I'm going to take a break from here for a while, and hopefully you people will find an atheist website where you can run your mouths about how stupid Christianity is amongst yourselves. Over and out for a few months.
Bob wrote:
John5796: "It's all in the bible."
"Born again" is in your boring book of fairy tales? That's nice. I still think growing up makes more sense than being born again. "
Oh, and Bob, before I forget, the next time you call the Word of God "your borig book of fairy tales" just remember to check your history in context, and make extra sure that you read up on the nuber one book in all of humanity to be printed, sold and translated - The Holy Bible; God's infallible, inspired Word and Will for all of mankind. You may choose to reject Him and His words, but you know what, He still loves you, and gave His Son Jesus Christ so that you may have a relationship with God the Father. Today if you hear the voice of the Lord thru His Word, do not harden your heart; rather, repent ad give your life to the Creator God of the Universe and believ on His So Jesus Christ- the One and Only Way to God.
John 3:3
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:2-4 (in Context) John 3 (Whole Chapter)
John 3:7
Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
John 3:6-8 (in Context) John 3 (Whole Chapter)
1 Peter 1:23
having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
1 Peter 1:22-24 (in Context) 1 Peter 1 (Whole Chapter)
bob,
John Chapter 3.
"Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'
8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
See, you, like Nicodemus, are thinking that being born again is a physical act. Jesus points out that it is not. You are born into the flesh the first time, and unless you are reborn into the spirit, you will not see heaven.