More than half of evangelicals oppose cutting government funds for poor, survey shows - The Denver Post
For a group considered to be the Republican faithful, evangelical Christians surprised pundits in a recent poll: Fifty-eight percent said they oppose cutting federal spending that is targeted to help the poor.
Republicans overall are evenly split on that question.
And 60 percent of evangelicals said they favor raising taxes on millionaires, according to a recent survey by Public Religion Research and the Religion News Service.
Raising anyone’s taxes is anathema to a majority of Republicans.
“White evangelicals as a whole remained solidly in the Republican camp in previous elections. However, this kind of opposition to the Republican budget-cutting strategy is significant,” said the Rev. Jim Wal lis, president and chief executive of the progressive evangelical organization Sojourners.
“But to careful observers,” Wallis said, “it shouldn’t be shocking. Many evangelicals, and especially their younger generation, now see poverty as a fundamental biblical issue and believe budgets are moral documents.”
The poll, conducted Nov. 10-14, found that 70 percent of Americans in general oppose cuts to social programs. About 80 percent believe the gap between the rich and poor has widened, and about 66 percent say the government should do more to close that gap.
Yet American ambivalence on this subject shows up in another question, when 71 percent answered that they agree poor people have become too dependent on government assistance.
