… I think it is worth asking why the myth of a discrete evangelical voting bloc motivated by explicitly religious concerns persists. Why, for example, do so many pundits – and their readers – continue to believe that evangelical leaders hold the power to sway presidential elections? Why do candidates – on both the left and the right – continue to pepper their stump speeches with targeted appeals to religious voters? And why do prominent newspapers continue to publish op-eds suggesting that better messaging on the part of Democratic candidates might prompt an evangelical exodus from the Republican coalition?
Part of the explanation, as I argue in a forthcoming book, can be traced to a critical but underexamined transformation in the institutional structure of American Protestantism. In short, for much of American history, Protestant religious elites actually did have the power to shape their followers’ political behavior in significant ways, at least on occasion. CONT.
John W. Compton (Chapman U.), A House Divided