WASHINGTON — More than half of white evangelical Republicans would consider voting for a conservative third-party candidate should the 2008 presidential race pit Hillary Rodham Clinton against Rudy Giuliani, a poll said Wednesday.
According to the poll of 2,007 people Oct. 17-23 by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, 55 percent of white evangelical Republicans said they would consider a conservative third-party candidate. Forty-two percent said they would not. The poll has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
Evangelicals make up 34 percent of GOP and Republican-leaning voters, Pew said. It is unclear whether a third-party bid would be launched should Giuliani become the GOP nominee. Several dozen conservative Christian leaders met privately in September to discuss that possibility, but top evangelicals said they have reached no consensus.
The Associated Press
