WASHINGTON (ABP) — Exit polls of Republican voters in the Jan. 15 Michigan primary showed that, unlike in the previous Iowa and New Hampshire contests, evangelical Republicans preferred Mitt Romney to Mike Huckabee.
A groundswell of support among self-described evangelical or “born-again” voters catapulted Huckabee to a solid win in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. There, the former Arkansas Baptist pastor and governor garnered 46 percent of the evangelical vote. That far outstripped Romney, who is Mormon.
In the Jan. 10 primary in New Hampshire — which has a much smaller evangelical population than Iowa — Huckabee tied winner John McCain in evangelical support. Both Huckabee and the Arizona senator took 28 percent of the Granite State's evangelical vote.
But Michigan — which presented the campaign's first contest in a populous and ethnically diverse state — proved more fertile ground to native son Romney. He was raised near Detroit and his father, George Romney, was an auto-industry executive who served as Michigan's governor.
Romney gained 39 percent of the overall GOP vote in Michigan, beating McCain's 30 percent and Huckabee's 16 percent showings. Among self-identified evangelical Republicans, 34 percent voted for Romney, 29 percent for Huckabee and 23 percent for McCain.
Evangelicals made up nearly two-fifths of Michigan's Republican voters, according to the polls.
Romney also did much better among Michigan's many Catholic voters than Huckabee, earning 38 percent to Huckabee's 9 percent share. Catholics made up 29 percent of Michigan GOP voters.
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Read more:
New Hampshire exit-poll statistics muddy picture of religious voters (1/09/2008)
Huckabee, Obama victories in Iowa spotlight religion in 2008 campaign (1/04/2008)