Romney Heads South Into Evangelical States

Mitt Romney’s struggle with white evangelical voters doesn’t bode well for him as he moves through the GOP presidential primary, with Mississippi and Alabama just ahead.

In the five states so far where born-again Christians were a majority of GOP primary voters, Romney has trailed either Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich among evangelicals by an average of 20 points. Exit polls also show that about four in 10 born-again voters who are asked say it’s deeply important that a candidate share their religious beliefs.

Romney may be able to draw a bit more of the evangelical vote. In Ohio and Tennessee, evangelicals who said shared religious beliefs are less important when choosing a candidate were significantly less likely than other evangelicals to see Romney as too moderate.