May
12
2008
Young Evangelicals Ditching The GOP?
“According to a September 2007 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 15 percent of white evangelicals between 18 and 29, a group traditionally a shoo-in for the GOP, say they no longer identify with the Republican Party. Older evangelicals are also questioning their traditional allegiance, but not at the same rate…Young evangelicals are more of a swing constituency than they’ve been for decades, said Andy Crouch, an editor at Christianity Today, a national evangelical magazine: ‘This could turn out to be the election where both parties realize that the evangelical vote is so hopelessly split down the middle that it’s not worth courting them at all because what parties need are blocs that can be appealed to en masse,’ Crouch said. ‘Paradoxically, evangelicals would become less relevant than ever before.’”
Could this be the unforseen backlash of an over emphasis on politics among Evangelicals over the last 30 years?