---
title: "Evangelicals Give Top Priority to Dealing with Moral Breakdown"
description: "Six-in-ten white evangelicals say dealing with moral decline should be a top priority for President Obama and Congress."
date: "2009-03-09"
authors:
  - name: "Pew Research Center"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2009/03/09/evangelicals-give-top-priority-to-dealing-with-moral-breakdown/"
---

# Evangelicals Give Top Priority to Dealing with Moral Breakdown

While members of different faiths seem to agree on the No. 1 issue facing the country (hint: it’s the economy, stupid) there is a large religion-priority gap on “dealing with the moral breakdown in the country.” Fully 59% of white evangelicals say addressing moral decline should be a top priority for President Obama and Congress, the only religion included in a Pew Forum analysis in which a majority cites moral decline as a top priority. The biggest religious-priority gap (27 percentage points) exists between white evangelicals and white non-Hispanic Catholics, of which only 33% say moral decline should be a top priority for Washington. About four-in-ten white mainline Protestants (40%) and religiously unaffiliated (37%) Americans say moral decline should be a top priority. [Read More](https://www.pewresearch.org/pubs/1140/religions-agree-economy-disagree-priorities)