Unorganized evangelicals voted for Carter before the Religious Right existed

Evidence

For America’s evangelicals, however, Carter’s “born-again” proclamations were compelling. At a time when they were not organized politically, many evangelicals voted for Carter. Some responded to his promise never knowingly to lie to the American people, a radical idea in the wake of Nixon’s endless prevarications. Others embraced his policies. Still others supported Carter out of the sheer novelty of voting for one of their own. — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 83

At a time when they were not organized politically, many evangelicals voted for Carter. Some responded to his promise never knowingly to lie to the American people, a radical idea in the wake of Nixon’s endless prevarications. Others embraced his policies. Still others supported Carter out of the sheer novelty of voting for one of their own. — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 84

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to the book’s central argument being developed across chapters — establishes the pre-political baseline.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 83; Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 84
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: The Religious Right includes more than fundamentalists — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 36; Mid-century evangelicals boycotted voting as politics belonged to Satan — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 70; Progressive evangelicalism peaked in the mid-1970s with Carter’s election — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 72 (+3 more)

Related

• Evangelical conspiracy against Carter began well before his reelection campaign. (similarity 0.86)
• Evangelicals conspired against Carter’s reelection secretly (similarity 0.86)
• Progressive evangelicalism peaked in the mid-1970s with Carter’s election (similarity 0.85)
• Mid-century evangelicals boycotted voting as politics belonged to Satan (similarity 0.85)
• Evangelicals’ turn against Carter was rooted in racial segregation defense, not abortion (similarity 0.82)
• The Religious Right includes more than fundamentalists (similarity 0.82)
• White evangelicals in 1980 chose image over co-religionist Carter and backed Reagan (similarity 0.82)
• Evangelicals punished Carter for abortion while Reagan had signed the most liberal abortion bill (similarity 0.81)
• Institutions built for withdrawal later enabled evangelical political reentry (similarity 0.80)
• American evangelicalism was politically reformist long before it aligned with the right (similarity 0.79)
• The Religious Right’s origins lay in defending racial segregation, not opposing abortion (similarity 0.78)