Poll: Obama leads among Christians

A poll by the Barna Group, a Christian polling and resarch organization says Democrat Barack Obama maintains a nine point lead over Republican John McCain among Christians. The poll finds that the race is tightening.

Among the key findings -

1) Of the 18 faith groups identified in the polls, McCain is only leading among evangelicals and it's a narrow lead. Obama leads among the other 17 faith groups identified including the born again vote (Barna notes that would mark the first time in more than two decades that the born again vote has swung toward the Democratic candidate.

2) McCain has a narrow lead among evangelicals but a third say they're undecided and McCain's support is weakening among the group:

While some Christian voters seem to be questioning their early support for Obama, the McCain candidacy does not seem to be gaining momentum among evangelicals. Since June, the current level of support Sen. McCain has among evangelical voters has declined significantly (dropping from 78% to 61%).

Create a More Connected Minnesota

MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.

The poll found that the Christian perspective is similar to that of the general voting public. Here are some interesting tidbits from George Barna:

-- When comparing the dimensions on which each candidate stands out in the eyes of voters, Sen. Obama emerged as the candidate of new ideas, for being black (mentioned as their reason for supporting him by 9%), for being different from George Bush (9%), and for his positions on health care (9%). In each case, the percentage of people naming those reasons substantially exceeded the percentage that identified those as reasons for their support of the Republican candidate.

Similarly, Sen. McCain stood out as being more likely to gain support related to his experience, knowing what the nation needs, for his position on taxes (9%), for being conservative (8%), for being a war hero (8%), and because of his military background (6%).

-- "It is unusual to see such significant movement within the core segments of the Christian community," George Barna explained. "While there is still a decided preference for Senator Obama, the more conservative element of the Christian population is slowly coming to grips with what an Obama presidency might be like. As the finer points of a wide range of issues are clarified by each nominee, the initial excitement about Senator Obama has lost some luster to an increasing number of people whose vote is influenced by their spiritual perspectives. If Sen. McCain converts such apprehensions into votes, this will be a closer race than many have anticipated."

Check the entire poll here.