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@SeonagM/St Philip's and St James' Edinburgh
UK News

Evangelical Christians turn away from coalition parties

by Antony Bushfield

Since the 2010 election the number of believers backing the coalition has fallen dramatically with support for the Conservatives declining by nearly a third, while the Liberal Democrats lost over half of its support.

Backing for the Tories has plummeted by 12% whilst 18% have moved away from the Lib Dems.

Labour is the main winner with the highest level of support, backed by 31 per cent of evangelicals.

The poll of 2,020 carried out by the Evangelical Alliance showed a fivefold increase in support for both UKIP and The Green Party since 2010.

On May 7th's election 94% of evangelical Christians are certain" or "likely", according to the survey despite half of the respondents saying they were less likely to believe what a politician says today than five years ago.

The most important policy for evangelical Christians has been outlined as ensuring religious liberty and freedom of expression, with poverty and inequality a close second.

Race and immigration, which is the most important issue for over a fifth of the UK population, was only chosen by six per cent of evangelicals.

Evangelicals are seven times more likely than the national population to have contacted a politician or taken part in a public consultation and 14 times more likely to have taken an active part in a campaign.

Dr Dave Landrum, advocacy director at the Evangelical Alliance, said: "Evangelical Christians are passionate about politics that works for the good of all of society, and when it comes to voting they're not going to be backing the party which just benefits themselves the most.

"The issues that concern evangelicals are quite different from the issues that concern the general public. Evangelicals care far more about poverty than immigration.

"With around two million across the UK this is a section of society that the politicians cannot ignore. No party has this vote in their pocket and there are aspects of all parties that attract as well as deter evangelical voters.

"The high level of engagement contrasts with a high degree of distrust in politicians and their promises.

"Many commented that the redefinition of marriage had badly damaged their view of politics.

"It's time for politicians to rebuild trust with all voters, but in the coming months evangelical voters are likely to be wary of grand promises made by any of the political parties."

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