THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, July 14, 1994                TAG: 9407140618
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                           LENGTH: Short :   48 lines

VIRGINIA EVANGELICALS HAVE DIVERSE VIEWS ON POLITICS, SURVEY FINDS

Although 42 percent of the state's registered voters consider themselves ``born again'' Christians, their attitudes toward politics are diverse, according to a new poll.

In a survey of 836 voters conducted last Friday through Monday, 53 percent of the blacks who participated and 40 percent of the whites identified themselves as evangelical Christians.

Of the white evangelicals, 37 percent said they are supporting Republican Oliver L. North in this year's four-way race for the U.S. Senate. Twenty-seven percent backed incumbent Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb, 22 percent favored independent J. Marshall Coleman and 3 percent supported independent L. Douglas Wilder.

``It is clear that white voters who identify themselves as born again Christians include large numbers of mainstream Protestant voters and are not made up exclusively of religious political conservatives,'' said Brad Coker, president of Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc. of Columbia, Md.

Coker said his polling company did not ask black evangelicals whom they were supporting.

The survey suggests that any candidate who tries to tie himself to the religious right is likely to get burned.

Among all voters who participated in the poll, 11 percent said they are more likely to back a candidate endorsed by televangelist Pat Robertson of Virginia Beach, while 36 percent said they are less likely.

Ten percent said they are more likely to vote for a candidate backed by the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Lynchburg, while 44 percent said they are less likely.

The poll also suggests that it would be a risky strategy for Robb to hype his endorsement by President Clinton. Sixteen percent of voters said they are more likely to vote for a candidate backed by Clinton, while 39 percent said they are less likely to do so.

Twenty-nine percent of voters said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate backed by the National Republican Party, while only 17 percent said they are more apt to vote for a Democrat.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.

KEYWORDS: POLL

by CNB