The Evangelical Left has mostly been low profile this election season. Many liberal evangelicals were quite ecstatic for Barack Obama in 2008. A handful were previously George W. Bush supporters. John McCain still got an overwhelming majority of white evangelicals, about 70 percent, though down from Bush's full throttle 75 percent in 2004, which fueled fears of theocracy on the far Left. In 2008 Obama did do better among young evangelicals, inspiring expectations that evangelicals were slowly shifting left.
An open question now is whether Romney gets the same overall 2008 level of 70 percent of white evangelicals or closer to Bush's 75 percent. A recent poll from the Pew Research Center has Romney getting 75 percent. This statistic is fairly remarkable, as Romney, unlike Bush, is not himself evangelical, does not routinely speak of his own faith, and has not focused on hot button social issues that energize many evangelicals. It's been widely assumed that many evangelicals are uncomfortable with Romney's Mormonism. Any discomfort evidently is not affecting many votes.
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