Ted Cruz Is ‘Awakening’ ‘Dormant Evangelicals’ to Vote for Him, FRC Pres. Tony Perkins Says
The high evangelical turnout in the Iowa caucuses Monday is proof that Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is ‘awakening’ and ‘energizing’ Christian conservative voters who did not turn out in the 2012 election, leading conservative activist Tony Perkins said Wednesday.
As 64 percent of Iowa’s Republican caucus goers were evangelicals, the staunch conservative Texas senator won the caucus with just over 27 percent of the vote and three-plus-percentage-point victory over GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
Perkins, who endorsed Cruz last week and was later announced the chair of the Pro-Lifers for Cruz coalition, told The Christian Post that the results in Iowa are an indicator that Cruz has what it takes to “go the distance,” thanks to the support that he will receive from evangelical voters who stayed away from the polls in 2008 and 2012 because they weren’t inspired enough by the GOP nominees to go place their votes.
“The interesting thing here about Ted Cruz, and I think we saw this in Iowa, is what I call ‘the Ted effect,'” Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, said. “That is that there have been a large number of evangelicals — we know this from the 2012 numbers, that about 26 million evangelicals did not vote. Those are dormant evangelicals that Ted Cruz, I believe, is awakening, and that is what we saw in Iowa with a record turnout. Those guys that have been sitting on the sidelines, finally see somebody that they are energized and enthused enough that they can come in and support.”
….
- Discussion
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.