Rhetoric Race and Religion
Mitt Romney won the Arizona Republican primary by a large margin and secured a narrow victory in the Michigan Republican primary. In both states, Romney’s support among born-again/evangelical voters was weaker than among non-evangelicals, continuing the pattern from previous primaries and caucuses in other states.Rick Santorum, who finished second in both Arizona and Michigan, received his strongest support from evangelicals and from voters who said it matters a “great deal” to them that a candidate shares their religious beliefs, according to results from the National Election Pool exit polls.
Michigan
In Michigan, 39% of the GOP electorate was comprised of white evangelical Protestants. Santorum was the clear winner of the evangelical vote, receiving 51% support from this group, compared with 35% for Romney.1 The balance of opinion was reversed among non-evangelical voters in Michigan, with 45% voting for Romney and 30% supporting Santorum. Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich each finished far behind Romney and Santorum among both groups of Michigan GOP voters.
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