Candidates reach for Tenn.'s evangelical voters
NASHVILLE -- Dennis Barbee cares about low taxes. He also wants a strong economy and solid national security.
Above all else, the registered nurse from Spring Hill, Tenn., is basing his vote this November on moral issues.
"Making sure human beings have a right to live is important to me," Barbee says. He isn't yet sure who he'll vote for, but the candidate he backs will be "a godly person that definitely has Jesus Christ as their savior," he says.
For conservative evangelical voters such as Barbee, presidential elections often hinge on social issues such as abortion or same-sex marriage.
Traditionally, the beliefs of the conservative evangelical bloc, which includes a diverse number of Protestant groups, have lined up with the Republican platform, says Marc Hetherington, a Vanderbilt University political scientist.
Candidates push hard for the evangelicals' votes in Tennessee, the South and other states, such as Ohio and Kansas, says Heather Larsen-Price, a University of Memphis political scientist.
The conservative evangelical vote is still likely the GOP's to lose this year, Larsen-Price says. But Democrats who oppose abortion have tried to close the gap by adding a parenting plank to the 2008 party platform, Larsen-Price says. While it still endorses Roe v. Wade, the plank affirms support for women who choose to have children.
Democrat Barack Obama has spoken often about family values and social justice issues such as poverty, issues that resonate with a new generation of Christian voters, says James Hudnut-Beumler, dean of the Vanderbilt University's Divinity School.
"Moderate evangelicals can swing either way, particularly in an election like this" where issues such as war and the economy are critical, Hudnut-Beumler says.
Jessica Kelley disagrees with Obama's stance on abortion, but the wife of a United Methodist pastor says she more concerned about poverty, health care and the war.
"I consider those moral issues … a truly pro-life culture seeks not only to reduce abortions, but also to save lives at risk from hunger and lack of adequate health care and from the violence of war," says Kelley, who voted for George W. Bush in 2000 but plans to vote for Obama.
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