Many Religious Voters Favor Obama, Poll FindsUS News

The political times, however, could be changing. A study released this week by the Barna Group, a Christian research and consulting firm based in Ventura, Calif., finds that Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, currently enjoys the support of more faith-driven voters, including Christians, than his Republican rival.

The poll, which shows Obama ahead of McCain 43 percent to 34 percent
among likely voters, also finds Obama leading in 18 of 19 different
religious faith communities defined by the survey's strict standards.
McCain leads in only one--evangelicals. In that category, however, the
Republican has a huge lead, 61 to 17.

The Barna poll uses unusual methodology. Many pollsters take voters
at their word when they say they are evangelical Christians, but the
Barna survey is unusually specific about its categorizations. It asks
voters a battery of nine questions about their religious
beliefs--whether, for example, they think the Bible is accurate in
everything it teaches, and whether they feel a personal responsibility
to share their beliefs about Christ with non-Christians. Only when all
nine questions are answered affirmatively are voters categorized as
"evangelical."

This significantly reduces the survey's estimate of the total number
of evangelical voters. By Barna's estimate, only 8 percent of U.S.
voters are truly evangelical. "That is a much smaller group than you
might think," says George Barna, the poll's director.