Article VI Blog

There is a new Barna (preeminent poller fo religious folk) out:

Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president this year, received the lowest level of support among evangelicals of any Republican presidential candidate since Bob Dole in 1996, according to a report by Barna Group, a Christian polling organization.

Romney received the support of 81 percent of evangelicals, compared to 88 percent for John McCain in 2008, and 83 percent and 85 percent, respectively, for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Only Dole received a lower level of evangelical support at 74 percent in Barna’s polling.

Fascinating and quite different from other polls we have seen.  Why the difference?

In the National Election Pool, an evangelical is simply one who self-identifies as evangelical or “born again.” For Barna, an evangelical is defined by a set of theological beliefs.

That’s going to make a big difference – AND it is quite informative.  I have not had a chance to go into this in detail, but what it would indicate, pending such detailed examination, is that people who take their faith more seriously, that is to say serious enough to be able to enunciate some theological principles, shied away from Romney.  This is in line with our comparison of Romney’s vote to the conservative vote for social issues.

These data all pulled together strongly indicate a significant bias against Romney amongst voters of faith – certainly enough to have spelled the difference in an election this close.

Against a Bill Clinton, or any other more moderate Democrat, this would not be as ugly as it is, but under these circumstances, I find this horrifying.  Consider this story, I ran across from the Anchoress:

Even after Marie Freyre died alone in a nursing home 250 miles from the family in North Tampa that loved her, Marie’s mother had to fight to bring her home.

In March 2011, state child protection investigators took 14-year-old Marie from her mother, Doris Freyre, claiming Doris’ own disabilities made it almost impossible for her to care for Marie, who suffered from seizures and severe cerebral palsy. But a Tampa judge signed an order that Marie be returned to her mother, with in-home nursing care around the clock.

Florida health care administrators refused to pay for it, although in-home care can be demonstrably cheaper than care in an institution. Child welfare workers ignored the order completely.

Two months later, Marie was strapped into an ambulance for a five-hour trip to a Miami Gardens nursing home, as her mother begged futilely to go with her.

Marie died 12 hours after she arrived.

This administration, with its enormous disregard for the rule of law and bloated view of government, has created an environment in which one agency could elect to defy a judge in such a heinous and ugly fashion.  This administration! – now allowed a second term apparently by a group of people that felt theological differences matter,  more than these sorts of things.  What I find most shocking is the lack of faith in God – it is as if they did not think God could act through Mitt Romney even if his beliefs were different as compared to the actions of this president which are clearly out of line with reason, the rule of law, and in some cases common decency – all values upheld by faith.

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