Simon Cox Blog: Analysis: Roy Moore Was ‘a Bridge Too Far’ for Alabama Evangelicals

Wednesday, 13 December 2017

Analysis: Roy Moore Was ‘a Bridge Too Far’ for Alabama Evangelicals

Al Mohler says Senate election “sends a signal” to the Republican Party—and to Christians.

“An incredible amount of evangelical Christians said this was a bridge too far.”

This is how Al Mohler explained to CNN, live at 1 a.m., the unexpected loss of Roy Moore to Doug Jones in Alabama’s special election for US Senate. “It’s nothing less than stunning.”

As expected, Alabama evangelicals mostly voted for the Republican candidate—by a wide 4–1 margin (80% Moore vs. 19% Jones). However, enough of the Heart of Dixie’s pro-life contingent voted instead for the Democratic candidate—1 in 4 (26% Jones vs. 72% Moore)—to hand the pro-choice politician the victory by a narrow 1.5 percentage points.

According to exit polls, 44 percent of Alabama voters Tuesday were white born-again or evangelical Christians (self-identified). In the last two elections with state-level exit polling, 2008 and 2012, their share was 47 percent.

“[Moore] lost because so many evangelicals didn’t show up,” Mohler told CNN anchor Don Lemon. “That’s the big story … what didn’t happen. You didn’t have any major pastors or evangelical leaders [in Alabama], not a single one, willing to support Roy Moore.

“Given the percentage of evangelicals in Alabama, it’s inconceivable that a candidate supported by them could lose,” the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary continued. “They would not and could not vote for a pro-abortion candidate, and they would not and could not vote for Roy Moore.

“It sends a signal to the Republican party. It also sends a signal to evangelicals,” said Mohler, who assessed the election’s "crisis of conscience" on his program, The Briefing, earlier on Tuesday. ...