Rise Of The Evangelical Democrats

Think all evangelicals vote Republican? Think again.

A Zogby International poll released this week, commissioned by Faith in Public Life and the Center for American Progress Action Fund, notes that "one in three white evangelical voters in Missouri and Tennessee participated in Democratic primaries."

And there's more stereotype busting where that came from: "Majorities of both Democratic and Republican evangelical voters want a broader issue agenda that goes beyond abortion and same-sex marriage to include ending poverty, protecting the environment, and tackling HIV/AIDS – rather than sticking to the more limited agenda of opposing abortion and same-sex marriage."

The poll found that Democratic evangelicals in both states favored Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama – 54 percent to 37 percent in Missouri and 78 percent to 12 percent in Tennessee.

160,000 white evangelicals voted in Missouri's Democratic primary – a figure larger than the number of under-30 voters and equal to the number of over-65 voters, as the Christian Post points out.

Faith in Public Life has been taking pollsters to task for not asking Democratic primary voters if they are evangelical or born-again Christians, a question generally asked of Republican primary voters.

"In the 2008 election, media organizations and pollsters are relying on an outdated script by treating evangelicals as a monolithic voting bloc," the group said in a release.