For whom will Christian Women Vote?

David Kinnaman, at Barna, has a new study on how “Christian women” (church-going, etc) will vote:

Who Will They Vote For?
When it comes to the “horse race,” Christian women edge toward the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, over the incumbent, Barack Obama, but they are more likely to consider voting for President Obama than are Christian men.

Among Christian women, 53% support Romney, with 30% definitely planning to vote for the conservative. For their part, Christian men are much more likely to be in the Republican column (58% total and 34% definite).

Conventional political wisdom holds that party affiliations win the day, but women say that’s not the most important thing to them. A candidate’s stand on political issues is by far the most important (72%), followed by the candidate’s character (52%) and the candidate’s religious faith (27%). After that, other voting factors drop substantially in importance: party affiliation (13%), the candidate’s education (6%), speaking ability (4%), personality (3%), age (1%), endorsements (1%), and physical appearance (0.5%).

Interestingly, Christian women are slightly less likely than other voters to say the candidate’s position on issues was a critical factor. (It is still perceived by these women as their most important decision point, but less so than for other voters.) What is notable is that Christian women are most likely to mention the candidate’s character and faith, even more so than Christian men.