Fred Thompson was once the savior of Reaganites and conservative Christians alike. Yet, he was never able to gain as many disciples as his competitors.
The Washington Post has the numbers behind Thompson’s muted support. In Iowa half of Thompson’s support came from evangelicals, but this equated to a mere 7 percent of the whole electorate. In South Carolina, instead of trying to galvanize support from other blocs the Senator tried the same strategy as before. Again, he was unable to compete for evangelicals falling to Huckabee and McCain. Ironically, Thompson was able to win voters who, like himself, were occasional attendees of church.
Polls in Florida predicted the Senator would end up neck and neck fighting with Ron Paul for 4th place. This in a state where evangelicals make up 25 percent of the adult population.
Clearly, Fred Thompson’s “consistent conservative” message never resonated with pious Republicans.