According to a report from NPR, the Republican party’s dependence upon Christian evangelical voters as a reliable voting bloc is coming back to bite them as Americans increasingly abandon the church.
For decades the GOP has been able to count on evangelical Christians to turn out on election day due to their opposition to hot button cultural issues like abortion and gay rights but with, church attendance collapsing, Republicans are faced with either ginning up new controversies to keep Christians who are tuning out in their camp.
According to NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben, “For the first time, a majority of Americans are not church members, Gallup found this spring. Over the last decade, the share of Republicans who are church members fell from 75% to 65%, according to Gallup. That’s a solid majority but also a sizable fall. The key bloc of white evangelicals is also shrinking as a share of the population, while the share of religiously unaffiliated Americans grows.” Continue reading.