Welcome back to our special two-hour edition of Alex Wagner tonight. I'm Katie

Fang in for Alex. The 2000 presidential election was one of the

closest presidential races we've ever experienced in this country.

Although George W Bush won the election by just five electoral votes, it was Al Gore who won the popular vote that year.

But when you start to slice and dice the electorate into different voting groups,

that race starts to look way less tight.

Check this out.

In 2000, George W Bush dramatically outperformed his opponent

among white evangelical voters, winning 68% among that group. In 2004, he increased that support by 10 points. Evangelical support

for the Republican presidential candidate remained relatively steady for the next two

elections.

And then look what happened in 2016.

Donald Trump won the support of 81% of white evangelical voters.

The Donald Trump's ability to supercharge the evangelical vote

has largely been attributed as the reason he was able to win the presidency

the first time he ran. Without a strong evangelical

turnout it becomes much more difficult for Donald Trump to chart a repeat path

to the presidency, which is why headlines like these today are a five alarm fire for the

Trump campaign quote why evangelicals are upset at recent Trump and Vance statements on abortion.

The last 24 hours have laid bare the challenges of running the first Republican campaign

for president in 50 years.

In an America where abortion is not a guaranteed

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