---

Race, religion gap growing, MTSU poll indicates
Tennesseans' views on the presidential race, the war in Iraq, gay marriage and the state's social problems are increasingly divided by race, religion and political party, a poll released yesterday showed....

...Among the poll's findings: Race and religion are becoming as important as political party affiliation in predicting how people view social and political questions, Wyatt said.

Attitudes about the Iraq war illustrate these divisions.

Consider:

• Among Republicans, 78% said the war was worthwhile, as opposed to 12% of Democrats and 51% of independents.

• Among whites, 54% supported the war vs. 18% of African-Americans.

• Sixty-one percent of white evangelicals supported the war, compared with 33% of nonevangelical whites.

...And among whites, nearly two-thirds of evangelical Christians are Bush supporters compared with about a third of non-evangelicals, the poll showed....