86% of evangelicals say Bush has their vote, Barna reports in new survey

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) - A new survey shows that a “faith gap” exists between the two major presidential candidates, with 86 percent of Christian evangelicals saying they plan to vote for President Bush this fall.

The survey of 1,618 adults by The Barna Group tallied 8 percent who say they’ll vote for Democratic candidate John Kerry.

By contrast, people of non-Christian faiths prefer Kerry by a margin of 55 percent to 22 percent, while agnostics and atheists favor Kerry by a 53-35 percent margin.

The data, researcher George Barna said, reveals that Bush is receiving more support from evangelicals than he did in 2000.

“Although voters from non-Christian faiths are a small slice of the electorate – just one out of every eight are aligned with non-Christian faiths and one in 10 are atheist or agnostic – they overwhelmingly side with Mr. Kerry,” Barna said in a statement. “From that perspective, then, Mr. Bush’s chances of re-election hinge squarely on the choices of the Christian body.”

In the horserace, Bush leads Kerry among likely voters by a margin of 49-44 percent. Among registered voters, it’s tied, 43-43 percent.

Evangelicals comprised 7 percent of the population in the survey. Sixty-two percent of evangelicals consider themselves Republicans and 75 percent call themselves conservative. Eighty-four percent of them are registered to vote, and 89 percent of them give Bush favorable ratings.

Barna also identified a segment labeled “non-evangelical, born-again” Christians – those that say they’ve accepted Christ and confessed their sins but who don’t meet all the criteria of evangelicals. Among non-evangelical, born-again Christians, 53 percent say they favor Bush and 35 percent Kerry.

Among all Kerry supporters, 44 percent are voting for the Massachusetts’ senator because “he’s not George Bush.”

The top reason for support among all Bush supporters is his job performance (25 percent). Following that are his character (18 percent), his foreign policy and performance with the war (14 percent) and his faith and moral beliefs (12 percent).

“Getting his supporters to actually turn out on Election Day will be critical for Mr. Bush,” Barna said. “There is the danger of his most ardent supporters – the evangelicals – failing to show up because they are so firmly convinced he will win.”