NAE survey shows Giuliani and Fred Thompson tied for a distant second.
With the "What about Huckabee?" cries growing louder, the National Association of Evangelicals' poll reveals that many Christian leaders do see him as the best match for their values.
When making a specific choice Huckabee was clearly the leader with Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson tying for a distant second place. Hillary Clinton was named, but only by those who don't want her to be a candidate.
Brownback resigned from the race October 19.
The Associated Press points out that Huckabee may be less conspicuous because, "His lack of money means Huckabee can field only eight paid staffers in Iowa, about half the size of Romney's campaign, and cannot air TV ads as Romney has done for months."
Some who took the NAE poll are worried that supporting a candidate who starts from behind is a losing bet.
There is no groundswell support for any Republican or Democratic candidate," says National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) President Leith Anderson. "Huckabee is a clear first choice, but there is concern that he is too far behind in the polls to catch up. If he does well in the Iowa caucuses or early primaries, then Evangelicals may suddenly rally to his support.
Can someone who was not the initial frontrunner really take the primaries? If you're looking at Republican candidates, it's not likely, according to a Pew Research Center poll. But the Atlantic Monthly points out that 2008 may be different: "Front-loaded primaries, early fund-raising events, and multiple potential front-runners make this season's guessing game harder - and possibly more pointless - than ever."
Posted by Susan Wunderink on October 26, 2007 3:17PM
Comments
Well now I guess people can start changing there mind about Huckabee being behind. In today's Rasmussen poll Huckabee has surpased Romney and is in 4th place at 12%. Check it out:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2008__1/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
Plus sense Chuck Norris' recent endorement, a good showing at the fox debate and his winning the values voters summit poll, online fundraising has shot up and the campaign has set a goal of online contributions at a little more than a million by Oct. 31 (the tracker is at around 800,000 at the moment).
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/
No more excuses, he is a viable candidate, have faith, throw in your support!
Posted by: Daniel at October 26, 2007
Huckabee is obviously the only choice evangelicals have if we are going to vote our principles. We should all get behind him now and give him a boost. His contunual rise in the polls, his recent boost in fundraising and his appeal to a wide variety of people of different political ideologies is showing that he is a formidabe candidate that given the right support could take the white house.
Posted by: Greg at October 26, 2007
Does anyone know what happened to the Christianity Today weblog? I can't find any updates after late September. Are they trying to cancel it again.
If so, does anyone have any recommendation for other places to find systematic links for issues related to religion in the news? Thank you very much.
Posted by: Mike at October 27, 2007
I don't live in Arkansas, so I haven't personally followed over the years what is being widely reported lately, which is that Gov. Huckabee had numerous, serious ethical lapses while in the Governor's mansion, such as setting up a "wedding registry" when leaving the Governor's office, despite the fact he was, of course, married. He and his wife justifed it on the basis that they needed to fill up their home with furnishings. What's with most evangelicals? You support Bush -- a small-minded, unprincipled man who is liberal to the core except on a few social issues -- and now Huckabee? There are at least three principled men -- Paul, Tancredo, and Hunter -- who appear to practice what they preach but they don't make it to the top four??? You are blind!
Posted by: DiverCity at October 27, 2007
I didn't consider Huckabee that much until, within the same week, both my conservative evangelical brother and my liberal evangelical friend expressed their opinions that Huckabee was someone to take a look at, so I have. For the first time since this whole pre-1008 election mess began, I feel like there's someone on the Republican ticket that I can vote for. Of course, my weight-conscious mom likes him because he lost 100 pounds, but I wouldn't vote for someone on that basis alone. I think he is someone who compromises where necessary for the greater good, but stands firm on the vital issues - someone who we desperately need.
Posted by: alison at October 29, 2007
To Greg: For a collection of links to news articles dealing with Christian issues, try Zondervan>To The Point (www.zondervan.com/point).
Posted by: Jon at October 29, 2007
DiverCity, thanks for the morning laugh about Bush being liberal and Tancredo being principled--though I certainly agree with your other adjectives describing Bush. As for Ron Paul, he is more principled than all other Republican candidates and most Democratic ones in his consistent position on the Iraq War. Glad we agree on something.
Posted by: Patrick at October 31, 2007
Patrick, glad I could assist you in maintaining a merry heart, but I fear the gesture was hollow because you don't understand conservatism if you think Bush is one. Paul is a conservative in the true sense of the word. Yes, Bush adopts certain socially conservative policies, but his invade the world/invite the world mentalitiy is liberalism with a capital L. Evangelicals need to wake up to the truth that neo-conservative principles are just leftist (even Marxist) ideas repackaged for the gullible masses.
Posted by: DiverCity at November 5, 2007
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