Is McCain winning over evangelicals?

By Ed Stoddard - Analysis

FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - Pundits have long said he can't win without them and now it seems that U.S. Republican presidential contender John McCain may finally be wooing his party's evangelical base.

McCain spoke directly to this base at a "civil forum" on Saturday hosted by influential California mega pastor Rick Warren, who spent an hour prodding Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and then McCain with questions related to morality and leadership.

McCain, an Arizona senator and war hero, hit the right political buttons before a nationally televised audience and thousands at Warren's massive Saddleback Church, stressing the emphatic opposition to abortion rights that is his trump card with social conservatives.

Religious conservatives said the performance gave him a lift at a time when polls also show him gaining ground with the Republican base.

"On the issue of abortion he didn't hesitate and he went on to say that he would be a pro-life president ... He also said he was a sinner," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a conservative lobby group based in Washington with strong evangelical ties.

"It gives McCain a bounce. Most social conservatives want to know that he has a faith in God, but what they are looking for is where that leads him to stand on the issues," Perkins, a leading figure in the "Religious Right," told Reuters.

As many as one in four U.S. adults count themselves as evangelical Christians, giving the movement serious electoral clout in a country where faith and politics often merge.

Conservative evangelicals have become a vital element of the Republican Party with a strong focus in the past on opposition to abortion and gay rights.

Such issues helped deliver almost 80 percent of the white evangelical Protestant vote to President George W. Bush in 2004, underscoring their importance to the party.

But evangelism is more fractured now, in part because of conservative dissatisfaction with McCain, in part because of a broadening of its agenda by some leaders such as Warren to embrace issues such as the environment, AIDS and poverty.

POLLS SHOW MCCAIN GAIN

But there are signs McCain is winning over a group that has regarded him with suspicion on grounds including his past criticism of Religious Right leaders and his support for stem cell research.

A nationwide poll of registered voters by the Pew Research Center from July 31 to August 10 found McCain had the support of 68 percent of the white evangelical Protestants surveyed, up from 61 percent in June.

Obama's support was almost unchanged at 24 percent -- an indication McCain is making headway with undecided voters in the group.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, taken July 27 to 29, showed that among white voters who described themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians, 67 percent backed McCain, with 24 percent for Obama.