Still Undecided

Posted by: Dwayne Hastings on October 31, 2008 Hot Issues •

A study recently conducted by LifeWay Research reveals that church leaders lean to the right when it comes to their political ideology.

In interviews with nearly 900 Protestant pastors, the research group discovered that 68 percent were “conservative” or “very conservative.” Fifteen percent of the respondents indicated they were either “liberal” or “progressive or very liberal,” with an equal percentage (15%) labeling themselves “moderate” in their political beliefs.

With 55 percent supporting Senator John McCain and 20 percent favoring Senator Barack Obama in his bid for the White House, the most surprising finding may have been that 22 percent of those polled were still “undecided.”

At this late date–the survey was taken in October–why would “undecideds” among this group be higher than the national average?

Perhaps there was an unwillingness among some of the pastors polled to talk about a private decision, although nearly all of the pastors provided the survey-takers their political ideology. Perhaps some of those pastors who normally lean “right” are planning on voting “left” this year and weren’t willing to even whisper those intentions to the caller asking their opinion.

To add even more intrigue to this finding, geographically the greatest number of these “undecided” pastors hail from the south.

LifeWay Research also discovered that 54 percent of pastors have “personally endorsed candidates for public office this year.” Most of the endorsements, according to those polled, were given as private citizens. Less than three percent said they threw their support behind a candidate during a church service.

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