Both Candidates Leave God Off the Campaign Trail
“Religion used to be everywhere in the presidential elections … What a difference a few years make,” reports NPR’s Barbara Bradley Hagerty. Both Mitt Romney and President Obama appear to be putting less emphasis on their faiths this election cycle; the shift is not surprising given religion has been “a minefield for both candidates.” While Romney may be able to rely on conservative religious voters, Obama, according to Hagerty’s sources, has a split among his advisors – those who want to court religious voters and those who see them as too demanding and uncertain. “And so it seems the energy is shifting to shoring up the base of women voters, and union voters and other kinds of voters that are a more reliable constituency,” says David Gushee, the director of Mercer University’s Center for Theology and Public Life.