Rudy Giuliani got trounced in a survey of religious voters yesterday just hours after delivering a speech in which he vowed to reduce abortions and touted his anti-porn crusade in Times Square.
“I come to you today as I would if I were your president, with an open mind and an open heart, and all I ask is that you do the same,” Giuliani told the socially conservative Family Research Council in Washington.
“Please know this,” he said. “You have absolutely nothing to fear from me.”
Though he was warmly received and attendees spoke highly of him, the national GOP front-runner struggled in fifth place in yesterday’s straw poll, the first to measure this crucial bloc of Republican voters.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist preacher, swept the field with over half the votes after delivering a powerful sermon to the crowd of several thousand. He was followed distantly in the poll by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 10 percent.
In his speech, Giuliani stressed the “shared values” between him and the mostly Christian conservatives. He said his Catholic faith is the “core of who I am” but said he often fails “to reach the ideals of my religious and moral beliefs.”
He promised to veto any legislation that threatened the Hyde Amendment, which bars Medicaid from using federal money to pay for abortions except in extreme cases.
Despite glaring past differences with many in the crowd on abortion, gay marriage, divorce and other issues, Giuliani promised never to lie to them. He also vowed to nominate conservative Supreme Court justices.
Many in the crowd said they respect Giuliani for his handling of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but plan to support other Republicans.
Kirby Wilbur, a radio talk-show host in Seattle, said he wouldn’t vote for Giuliani unless Democrats pick Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he described as the “Antichrist.”
“She’s a leftist who believes the state can do everything for you,” he said.
Even former President Bill Clinton didn’t worry Wilbur so much.
“I’d drink a beer with Bill,” he said. “I’d burn Hillary at the stake.”
After his speech in Washington, Giuliani flew to Florida for tonight’s GOP debate.
The head of Giuliani’s Florida campaign told The Post yesterday that he is confident of a victory in the Sunshine State.
State Attorney General Bill McCollum said Giuliani has the strongest grass-roots operation across the state, and he’s running strong among Florida’s Republican-leaning Cuban-American voters as well as transplanted northerners.
churt@nypost.com