Back in May, pollster George Barna and his American Culture & Faith Institute took the temperature of spiritually active, politically engaged conservatives in Ohio when it came to Donald Trump. At that time, more than two-thirds said they were backing the Republican candidate. This week Barna went back to see how those SAGE Cons*, as he terms them, are feeling a week out from the election.

“It’s not exactly that they have a love affair with him,” he explains, “but they’ve looked at the options, they’ve said, You know what, this is the way we got to go – so it’s risen from 67 percent in May to 92 percent today.”

The poll also took a look at what issues were most important to these conservatives. Back in May, they were concerned with the overreach of the federal government and the moral decline of the nation. Like their support for Trump, that’s also changed.

Barna

“They’ve kind of shifted toward the Supreme Court and abortion as being the things now that are pushing them to decide one way or another, not only on the presidential candidates but the Senate candidates that they want,” the pollster tells OneNewsNow.

Those are the very issues evangelical organizations have been talking about as the election nears. And take note, says Barna: these qualified evangelicals are a potent voting group. “They’re having an impact in the polls, they’re having an impact in terms of giving, they’re having an impact in terms of volunteering,” he lists.

And according to Barna, they have another type of impact.

“Among conservative candidates, you cannot win an election just with SAGE Cons backing you,” he shares. “But you’re not likely to win an election unless they are backing you in a pretty solid sense.”

SAGE Cons make up 12 percent of the electorate – roughly the same percentage as the African-American vote or the Hispanic vote.