JOHN KERRY AT 7%

Religion Today/New York Times ^ | 6.23.2004 | McCullough/Brooks

[KMC1]

BOSTON - There is a poll demographic John Kerry is doing horribly with. It is a category that Presidents Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton (both times), and Bush all won in their respective runs for the White House. All of these Presidents won a majority of the evangelical vote, and even a larger majority of the "serious faith" vote.

The New York Times reports today that only 7 percent of Americans see John Kerry as a serious man of faith. And columnist David Brooks says, "This should be the first thing his campaign staff think about in the morning, and the las thing that are contemplating as they go to bed. And doing everything they can to change it - in between."

[Interesting Times]

No, no... they need to have the candidate sacrifice a goat within the confines of a large pentagram, live on C-SPAN...

[bereanway]

Hopefully, this is the voting block that sinks Kerry. It's the largest most important group of voters in the Republican Party, and if they can be mobilized Kerry is toast. That's the reason the Times and others have been screaming about the Pubbies attempting to work with the SBC (actually members of the SBC).

[Sloth]

Don't forget to take your wife, what's her name.

Zsa Zsa.

[AD from SpringBay]

Time to break out Clinton's 20 pound Bible and march off to some church building every Sunday while his sycopant press cameras roll. Or maybe he can speak at enough "black" churches to be called America's Second Black President.

[ZGuy]

Clinton received a majority of the evangelical votes?????? Show me the numbers.

[Theodore R.]

I believe that Clinton received some 34 percent of evangelicals' votes in 1996. I don't know if these are "conservative" evangelicas or just the admirers of GA Jimmy Carter.

[dirtboy]

The New York Times reports today that only 7 percent of Americans see John Kerry as a serious man of faith. And columnist David Brooks says, "This should be the first thing his campaign staff think about in the morning, and the las thing that are contemplating as they go to bed. And doing everything they can to change it - in between."

Maybe Bill Clinton can loan Kerry that big honkin' Bible that he carried to church every Sunday, now that Slick no longer needs to pretend that he's religious.

[Salvation]

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[r9etb]

For those who care that he's a "Serious man of faith" this is probably a big deal -- but I don't know that it's a significant vote-getter.

More troublesome for Kerry is the possibility that this number (if real) may have a more general meaning: that people don't think he's a serious man, period.

My general impression of Kerry is that he's a guy who wants to be president because he wants to be president. He can carp and moan with the best of them, but it's pretty obvious to the cynics here at FR that it's all for show.

I think people in general tend to pick up on that. He'll do rather poorly, once the campaign really starts.

[reagan_fanatic]

I'm sure Clinton was really disappointed when, upon opening his oversized Bible for the first time, he discovered there were no pictures or centerfolds.

[r9etb]

It's the largest most important group of voters in the Republican Party, and if they can be mobilized Kerry is toast.

They don't need to be mobilized -- they tend to vote in larger numbers anyway. The real problem for Kerry is that it implies something bigger: he's not serious about anything. What that implies is that people will not be enerized to vote for him.

[Straight Vermonter]

My father is a devout Catholic but also a dedicated union man. His union side has always won out and he has always voted straight Democrat. The combination of 9/11 and Kerry's communion scandal has gotten my dad to put a Bush/Cheney bumpersticker on his car. I think there will be many more like him.

[Badeye]

This is just the most visible problem Kerry has. Wait til the club for growth commercials hit the major markets for two weeks.

Its running here, and its devastating.

I LIKE IT!....LOL!

[Talking_Mouse]

Clinton won the Evangelical vote in '96? I thought most of them just stayed home.

[MissAmericanPie]

"Karl Rove, White House political director, told a meeting of the American Enterprise Institute in 2001 that 4 million fundamentalists and evangelicals didn't turn out to vote in 2000, almost costing Bush the presidency.

Christian right voters played a pivotal role in electing Bush in his razor-thin victory over Al Gore. He cannot afford to lose them in 2004.

"If Republican leaders cannot mount a vigorous defense of marriage, then pro-family voters perhaps should begin to reconsider their loyalty to the party," warned Connors.

Religious conservatives also are upset with Bush's push to send $15 billion to Africa for AIDS prevention. He dismissed a bid by conservative Christians to restrict the initiative to fight AIDS to only those programs that reject abortion and promote abstinence.

"Bush is breaking his word to pro-lifers and is proving, once again, that he has no real convictions regarding the life issue," said the Rev. Chuck Baldwin, a Baptist preacher from Pensacola, Fla., with a large national audience through various Internet sites, such as "The Convenant News" at www.covenantnews.com.

Witherspoon warned that if attitudes don't change in the White House, many Christian right voters might stay home on Election Day."

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/politics/5989180.htm

Evidently the Christian right, justifiably, has problems with both candidates. Bush would be ahead with them, in comparison, but neither candidate has them in the bag.

[spokeshave]

How come John F'n "flip-flop" Kerry can't recall all those black church burnings.......?

[holden]

If it takes a vicarious act from YHWH to reach out toward J.F'n. K. to get him one communion wafer, what mortal could believe it's the Man Upstairs' plan to see him run the whole US of A?

HF

[rocky88]

"Wait til the club for growth commercials hit the major markets for two weeks.

Its running here, and its devastating."

Can you please elaborate on this commercial? I haven't seen it, but then again I'm NY.