Evangelical Voters Mobilize for New Hampshire Presidential Primary

[Dmitri Veans]

Evangelical Voters Mobilize for New Hampshire Presidential Primary

MANCHESTER, N.H.—With the nation’s first presidential primary election less than a week away, pastors across New Hampshire are hoping to surprise the Republican establishment by turning out many thousands of religiously minded voters who have mostly ignored the political world.

The effort had been viewed as a long shot, until Texas Sen. Ted Cruz helped draw thousands of dormant evangelicals to the Iowa caucuses on Monday. Of those who said they were first-time caucusgoers, 61% also described themselves as evangelical Christians, according to entrance polls. Mr. Cruz took the largest proportion of those voters, 34%, on the way to winning the Iowa caucuses.

“I have high hopes here,” said Bryan McCormack, executive director of Cornerstone Policy Research and Action, a conservative New Hampshire nonprofit organization that is working with hundreds of churches across the state to newly mobilize this constituency. “I’ve never seen this type of activity from the faith community regarding voting,” he added.

The Cruz campaign has amassed a network of 200 pastors in churches across the state, said former Sen. Bob Smith, co-head of the Mr. Cruz’s campaign in the state. “It’s more elaborate than you think. It’s been overlooked here,” said Mr. Smith, a conservative Republican. “I can assure you it’s big here, not as big as Iowa, but we are working with these people.”

Both Mr. Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who finished third in the caucuses, could be helped by an evangelical get-out-the-vote push. Both closed their Iowa campaigns with a heavy emphasis on their faith, and many evangelical voters in the Granite State say they now are trying to choose between them, said Rich Clegg, a Manchester, N.H., pastor and the director of missions for the New Hampshire Baptist Association, which includes about 30 churches.

Mr. Clegg said celebrity businessman Donald Trump doesn’t appeal to him because he doesn’t think Mr. Trump embodies the humility called for in the Bible. Still, he said “a surprising number” of evangelical voters with whom he has spoken do support Mr. Trump.

On Tuesday, Grace Capital Church, a megachurch with four New Hampshire locations, released a video on social media urging religious conservatives to engage in Tuesday’s primary election and recommended three GOP candidates as best upholding “strong Biblical values”: Mr. Cruz, Mr. Rubio and former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina.

In the past, Mark Warren, the lead pastor of Grace, treated voting as a personal affair, not something to preach about, he said. “I believe the nation is watching what we do in New Hampshire,” Mr. Warren said on the roughly 15-minute video. “It’s a pivotal time for us.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/evangelical-voters-mobilize-for-new-hampshire-presidential-primary-1454535131

 

 

 

 

[Dmitri Veans]

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 59% of Likely U.S. Voters say it’s likely that the next president after Barack Obama will come from the GOP. Just 36% say that’s unlikely.