Evangelicals Could Decide Winners In Southern Primaries

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – The evangelical Christian vote could be a crucial element in today’s Alabama and Mississippi primaries. Evangelicals are likely to make up two thirds or more of today’s Republican primary voters, according to some political analysts. Emory University political science professor Merle Black says evangelicals are more likely to cast ballots for Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich, who are conservative Catholics, than for Mitt Romney, who is Mormon.

 But Black says Romney could still win today if Santorum and Gingrich split the evangelical vote. And some evangelicals say Romney’s moral values matter more than his religion, and they believe he can turn around the economy.