Barna Breaks Down the Faith Vote

From OneNewsNow

A survey by The Barna Group provides details of how people of faith voted in the November Presidential election.

According to the survey, 88 percent of Evangelicals voted for Senator John McCain, compared to just 11 percent for Senator Barack Obama. However, in general, the survey found that “born-again” Christians chose their candidate based on different criteria than did Evangelicals. Fifty-seven percent of born-again Christians voted for McCain, while 42 percent voted for Obama.

George Barna, founder of the marketing research firm, says among non-white voters, racial identity played a larger role than did religious beliefs and affiliations.

“More than 90 percent of African Americans in this country voted for Senator Obama,” he notes. “The thing that surprised us the most was that more than three-quarters of all Hispanics voted for Senator Obama. You compare those huge margins for Senator Obama to the fact that he won only 41 percent of the white vote.”

The survey also found that those who were worried about the economy, or those who had been negatively impacted by the economic situation, tended to vote for Obama. “One of the things that we looked at were people who said they had lost 20 percent or more of the value of their retirement funds or 401K funds,” Barna explains, “and we found that Senator Obama won that group by a 54-percent to 45-percent margin.

Also, among voters who had a favorable view of Wicca, Senator Obama beat McCain by a 64 percent to 35 percent margin.

Barna defines “born-again Christians” as individuals who have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today, and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Christ as their Savior.

“Evangelicals,” by Barna’s definition, meet all the “born-again” criteria plus seven other conditions -- among them belief that they have a personal responsibility to share their faith in Christ with non-Christians; belief that Satan exists; and belief that salvation is possible only through grace, not works.