Republicans and Evangelicals | Why Christians Didn’t Vote for Carter

2026-03-24

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Give to help Chris make Truce Boy, the Religious Right did not like Carter, at least by 1980. Some of them, like Pat Robertson, had high hopes for him at the start. But they quickly grew to distrust the man from Georgia. Why? In this episode, Chris goes through some of the top issues that evangelicals had with Jimmy Carter. They include his article in Playboy Magazine that mentions his struggles with sex (but also featured a strong gospel message), his support of the ERA, and his lackluster responses to their questions about abortion. But... It's not as if Ronald...

Give to help Chris make Truce

Boy, the Religious Right did not like Carter, at least by 1980. Some of them, like Pat Robertson, had high hopes for him at the start. But they quickly grew to distrust the man from Georgia.

Why? In this episode, Chris goes through some of the top issues that evangelicals had with Jimmy Carter. They include his article in Playboy Magazine that mentions his struggles with sex (but also featured a strong gospel message), his support of the ERA, and his lackluster responses to their questions about abortion.

But... It's not as if Ronald Reagan was significantly better. Reagan was not a regular churchgoer like Carter. He consulted a medium for his decisions. He was a divorced former actor in a time when evangelicals didn't like Hollywood. So... how bad was this Carter guy that they didn't vote for him?

Our special guest for this episode is historian and author Rick Perlstein.

Sources:

Today story on Carter's church
Tampa Bay Times story on Carter's church
Associated Press story on Carter's church
Christianity Today article on Carter's 100th birthday
Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
Document the interview the Religious Right guys did
Criswell ad
Strom Thurmond ad
Playboy Magazine, November 1976
Reagan: An American Journey by Bob Spitz
White House Conference on Families: Listening to America's Families. Pamphlet
God's Own Party by Daniel K Williams
The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
The Surprising Work of God by Garth Rosell
Jimmy Carter Library interview with Robert Maddox
Carter's speech to NAE (courtesy of Jimmy Carter Presidential Library)

Discussion Questions:

Why did some evangelicals so strongly oppose the ERA?
What did you see in the Playboy article that might be construed as unappealing to Christians?
If Reagan engaged in fortunetelling, why did some evangelicals follow him and not Carter?
Why have evangelicals become enamored of leaders? What has that done to our witness?

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