Andrew Sullivan looks at the new Time poll results and sees that Romney actually does better against Obama with evangelicals (by six percentage points) than Perry does–ergo, it’s Perry who has the evangelical problem. But that’s off the mark. The question is how well against Perry Romney does with evangelicals. Or, more importantly at the moment, against Cain.
At the moment, Romney’s doing better against Obama with evangelicals because Perry’s sinking like a stone and there are some moderate evangelicals who think Perry’s not up to the job but who would prefer Romney to Obama. Bear in mind that even Robert Jeffress says he would vote for Romney over Obama. Romney’s problem with evangelicals is limited to 1) getting enough of them to secure the nomination; and 2) if he gets it, making sure they go to the polls in the general. Mike Huckabee says he’d vote for a Mormon “in a heatbeat.” Do I hear Huckabee for Veep?