Tom Goodwin, a Christian church deacon from Cobb County, says Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio is a great communicator with a compelling family story. Rene Lane, an evangelical Christian from Augusta, is leaning toward voting for GOP contender Donald Trump because she likes his blunt, pro-business message.
Goodwin and Lane are among evangelical voters who remain sharply splintered in their choice to replace President Barack Obama. Some are drawn to Ted Cruz's hard-line conservative message. Others like Rubio's brand of conservatism. Even the thrice-married, casino-building Trump is winning his share of Christian support in this topsy-turvy political year.
Evangelical voters have tremendous clout in the GOP race. In 2012, exit polls showed that more than six in 10 Georgia Republican primary voters were white evangelicals. Other Southern states — also set to vote in the March 1 primary — have similar concentrations of primary voters who describe themselves as evangelical, according to exit polls and other data. More than 1,000 delegates are at stake in the Southern Super Tuesday, which will be critical in thinning the large GOP field.
“There is no way to the nomination for the Republican Party — and ultimately there is no way to the White House — without … the Christian vote. It is unavoidable,” said Timothy Head, executive director of the Duluth-based Faith and Freedom Coalition, founded by former Georgia Republican Party chairman Ralph Reed.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution interviewed many evangelical voters across the state for this article, including at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta and at a recent prayer rally led by evangelist Franklin Graham in downtown Atlanta. Read more of this story and see related photos here on myajc.com
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