What a stupid take. Thinking this country's voters are suddenly and inexplicably rampant atheists is just about the most out of touch opinion spouted in the history of Cat Paw political threads. Hillary's gonna pander and pretend she is a church-every-sunday gal because she knows voters ain't gonna elect someone as President if they don't bend their knees to the Almighty.
Dead wrong. You must not have heard the question. The question had nothing to do with believing in god. They asked the candidates if god had spoken to them. Entirely different question.
It was a death blow, because it required a candidate to answer an over the top religion question. Saying no, kills the evangelical vote which the candidates need to get out of the primary. Saying yes, helps with the evangelical vote, but kills them in the general. Why?
In the general, its murderous. The left won the last 2 elections, especially the last one, on social issues; mainly gay marriage and abortion. Two well settled legal principles which none of the GOP candidates should even consider discussing in the general. Yet by forcing these candidates hands, now any of the evangelical candidates have an upper hand in the primary; but we know they'll lose on social issues in the general.
I posted this before the answers to that question were concluded. Luckily, some of the better candidates for the general didn't have to answer the question. So most of the damage was avoided.
To take it a step further, Hillary will get the votes shes going to get no matter what she says about religion. But even if Hillary says she was appointed pope, she'll still take positions on the popular side of all the important social issues. She'll say or do anything to get elected, and the MSM will give her a pass.
The GOP needs a candidate in the general who is religious, to pull in the evangelicals; but not overly zealous (like talking to god). That way, the candidate can still avoid being pulled into social issues; and have a good chance at the undecided vote.