Pundits have long said he can't win without them and now it seems that US Republican presidential contender John McCain may finally be wooing his party's evangelical base.
Mr McCain spoke directly to this base at a "civil forum" on Saturday hosted by influential California mega pastor Rick Warren, who spent an hour prodding Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and then Mr McCain with questions related to morality and leadership.
Mr McCain, an Arizona senator and war hero, hit the right political buttons before a nationally televised audience and thousands at Warren's massive Saddleback Church, stressing the emphatic opposition to abortion rights that is his trump card with social conservatives.
Religious conservatives said the performance gave him a lift at a time when polls also show him gaining ground with the Republican base.
"On the issue of abortion he didn't hesitate and he went on to say that he would be a pro-life President ... He also said he was a sinner," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a conservative lobby group based in Washington with strong evangelical ties.
"It gives McCain a bounce. Most social conservatives want to know that he has a faith in God, but what they are looking for is where that leads him to stand on the issues," said Perkins, a leading figure in the Religious Right.
As many as one in four US adults count themselves as evangelical Christians, giving the movement serious electoral clout in a country where faith and politics often merge.
Conservative evangelicals have become a vital element of the Republican Party with a strong focus in the past on opposition to abortion and gay rights.
Such issues helped deliver almost 80 per cent of the white evangelical Protestant vote to President George W. Bush in 2004, underscoring their importance to the party.
But evangelism is more fractured now, in part because of conservative dissatisfaction with Mr McCain, in part because of a broadening of its agenda by some leaders such as Warren to embrace issues such as the environment, AIDS and poverty.
But there are signs Mr McCain is winning over a group that has regarded him with suspicion on grounds including his past criticism of Religious Right leaders and his support for stem cell research.
A nationwide poll of registered voters by the Pew Research Centre from July 31 to August 10 found Mr McCain had the support of 68 per cent of the white evangelical Protestants surveyed, up from 61 per cent in June. Mr Obama's support was almost unchanged at 24 per cent - an indication McCain is making headway with undecided voters in the group.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, taken from July 27 to July 29, showed that among white voters who described themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians, 67 per cent backed Mr McCain, with 24 per cent for Mr Obama.
"It's important to keep in mind that while Mr McCain has had some differences with evangelical leaders in the past, he has reached out to them," said Scott Keeter, an analyst with the nonpartisan Pew Research Centre.