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Leaders Without Followers

Evangelical insiders in the year of the outsider
julyjangraph

Good news for Team Rubio, says Team Rubio, citing a WORLD magazine article:

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., widened his lead in WORLD’s latest evangelical insiders survey, breaking 70 percent in combined support for the first time.

The findings are part of a monthly survey of 103 evangelical leaders and influencers, 82 of whom participated in January. The results are not scientific or representative of all evangelicals but offer a glimpse into how a group of influential evangelicals are leaning in the 2016 presidential race.

Rubio trails billionaire businessman Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in national polls, but he came out on top in WORLD’s survey for the seventh month in a row. His combined first- and second-choice support increased from 66 percent last month to 73 percent in January, including 40 out of 82 first-choice votes.

So say Evangelical leaders. What about Evangelical followers? The NYT says:

A New York Times/CBS News poll last week showed Mr. Trump, a Presbyterian, dominating the field with 42 percent of evangelical voters; Mr. Cruz was second with 25 percent.

In other words, they’re not following.

I think one of the most interesting meta-stories that we may be seeing is the growing gap between the Leadership Class and the Followership Class — not just in politics, but in religion and … where else?

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