The 564 counties that sit in Patchwork Nation’s Evangelical Epicenters community type are full of young, socially conservative families. Scattered in suburban and small-town America, these are places where you see a lot of churches and you feel a tight-knit community.

On the whole, the nation’s Evangelical Epicenters are not rich or poor — the median income of their residents sits almost exactly at the national median — and as the name suggests, they have a higher-than-average number of evangelical adherents. Geographically, they have their biggest presence in the south and the west.

The topics that move these places are not complicated. They are the core social issues of the day, the key elements of the nation’s culture wars: abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research. And it would take a lot more than a down economy to change those areas of concern. These are places where the issue palette seems to be, essentially, static.

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Those aren’t the only issues, of course. In Nixa, Missouri, Patchwork Nation’s representative Evangelical Epicenter, people talk about fiscal conservatism and the need to hold the line on taxes. And the community is not especially focused on the need to improve city services, beyond the local schools.

But the real motivators are the social topics. And that makes this firm Republican territory: President Bush took 64 percent of the vote in these counties in 2004.

These communities were not particularly enthusiastic toward John McCain in early 2008. Some people we interviewed in Nixa and elsewhere said they planned to stay home in November. But that was before the Republicans added Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to the ticket. Palin’s social conservative resume has stoked the enthusiasm in these places.
– Dante Chinni

Read more about the Patchwork Nation communities at The Takeaway’s election Web site, vote2008.thetakeaway.org »