WASHINGTON (ABP) — In the latest presidential primary contests, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama improved his position among Catholics on the Democratic side while most white evangelicals chose not to vote for Arizona Sen. John McCain, even though he is now all but guaranteed to be the GOP nominee.
The so-called “Potomac Primary” on Feb. 12 involved contests in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Obama and McCain swept all three of their respective primaries, but exit-poll data showed that Obama won decisively among Maryland's most religious voters and made significant inroads into Clinton's previous lead among Catholics.
McCain, meanwhile, won the Virginia primary by a smaller margin than many observers had expected. And he lost decisively to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee among Republican voters who described themselves as evangelical or born-again Christians.
On the Democratic side, results by the afternoon of Feb. 13 showed Obama beating Clinton in Maryland with 60 percent of the vote to her 36 percent.
He won among all Maryland faith groups other than Roman Catholics and Jews. But while Clinton had won Catholics by large margins in earlier contests, she only edged her rival 48-45 percent among the state's significant Catholic population.
Obama, meanwhile, beat Clinton decisively (61-31 percent) among Democrats who attend religious services weekly or more often. Among those who said they worship more often than weekly, his advantage was even greater: 67 percent to Clinton's 20 percent.
Clinton still edged Obama among the most faithful Catholics, but she led by less than 10 percentage points.
In the overall Virginia GOP contest, McCain beat Huckabee 50-41 percent. But the Arkansan — who was a Baptist pastor before he entered politics — beat McCain 60-31 percent among those who describe themselves as evangelical or born-again Christians.
Huckabee also beat McCain among the most fervent believers of all faiths, with those who said they attend services weekly or more often favoring the Arkansan over McCain by eight percentage points.
McCain beat Huckabee handily among the commonwealth's more secular Republicans. Virginia GOP voters who said they rarely attend church supported the senator 59-29 percent over his chief rival.
McCain has amassed more than half of the delegates required to cinch the GOP nomination, while Huckabee lags far behind. But the governor has shown no indication he intends to drop out.
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