Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll from the Pew research institute shows John McCain doing about as well with evangelical voters as President Bush did in the 2000 election. However, he is slightly under-performing compared to Bush's standing with evangelical voters in the 2004 race against John Kerry.

Currently about 61 percent of evangelical voters, most of whom are pro-life, favor McCain while 25 percent support pro-abortion candidate Barack Obama.

Pew says McCain's 36-point advantage among this group is comparable to Bush's lead in 2000 but smaller than Bush's 43-point lead in 2004.

"Nonetheless, Obama has made no significant gains among this important constituency," Pew indicates.

According to Pew's survey, the number of white evangelicals who say they would vote for Obama (25%) is about the same as the number who supported the Democratic presidential candidates in June 2004 (26%) and June 2000 (28%).

Indicating pro-life advocates must do more to educate voters about where McCain and Obama stand on abortion, white evangelical voters are more undecided today than they were at this point in the previous two presidential elections.

The Pew numbers show 12 percent of white evangelicals don't know which candidate they would support if the election were held today.

CBN News senior national correspondent David Brody commented on the Pew results and said McCain can do two things to boost his standing with the strongly pro-life voting group.

"First, he’s going to need a solid Vice-Presidential pick that will energize the base. This is crucial," he explained. "If it doesn't go down well with the Evangelical grassroots, expect a backlash and any goodwill that’s been attained so far will vanish."

"Secondly, speeches and 'straight talk' on life ... will get Evangelicals excited and motivated," he added.

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