Iowa opens presidential race: 27% of population is evangelical

For months, the media in the USA and many other places have been following the polls and debates trying to guess who is the strongest Republican candidate. 

Donald Trump has been the centre of all debates and controversies. Many Christian believers have spoken out against his harsh language, and his aggressive opinions on immigration, refugees, and other relevant issues.

Although most well-known Christians leaders seem to reject Trump’s ideas, the polls so far showed that many grassroot members of evangelical churches would vote for him.

“When people are afraid, they make the worst decisions”, says evangelical radio host Steve Dearce. “And Trump is using this in a cynical way”, he concluded.

TED CRUZ AND MARCO RUBIO FIND SUPPORT AMONG CHRISTIAN LEADERS

Ted Cruz, with similar Conservative values but a much more cautious tone, is also a frontrunner candidate among evangelical Christians. Son of a pastor, Cruz has been in touch with many churches and hopes to come out as representative of evangelical Christians.

But the so-called evangelical vote is not monolithic. Of course every believer will make a personal choice and church leaders do not tell their communities what option should be voted.

Even Marco Rubio, another Republican top Republican candidate, has received endorsements of well-known evangelical leaders, such as theologian Wayne Grudem.

EVANGELICALS: 60% OF VOTERS IN 2012

But why is everyone talking about the influence of evangelical Christians in this coming election? The reason, according to analyst Dennis Goldford (Drake University, Des Moines) is that “in Iowa, about 27% of the population is evangelical. In the last presidential election (2012), they were almost 60% of those who went to vote”, he told Swiss TV channel SF.

Evangelicals are between 50% to 70% of voters in these primaries in 10 states of the USA.