DULUTH, Ga. — Jonathan Merritt is a Baptist preacher's son with a pristine evangelical lineage. It was his dad, the Rev. James Merritt, who reportedly brought President Bush to tears in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks when he called the president "God's man for this hour." The Rev. Jerry Falwell was like a grandfather.

"I grew up believing an evangelical couldn't be a Democrat," says Merritt, 25. "The two were mutually exclusive."

But in the past year, as the presidential campaign has focused on the country's problems, Merritt has begun to question the party of his father. There was his recent revelation that "God is green," a mission trip to orphanages in Brazil that caused him to worry about global poverty, an encounter with a growing strain of politically liberal evangelicalism that has taken off online, and a nagging sense that Bush's unpopularity has been an embarrassment to the evangelicals who overwhelmingly voted for him.

"When you look at the political party that has traditionally championed poverty, social justice and care for the least of these, it's not been the Republican Party," says Merritt, who now considers himself an "independent conservative" and is unsure whom he will vote for in November. "We are to honor the least of these above even ourselves. It's very difficult to reconcile totally."

He is part of a growing group of young, born-again Christians standing on one of the many generational breaks surfacing in this election cycle. Merritt still shares his parents' conservative convictions on abortion, a core issue that forged Falwell's Moral Majority and brought evangelicals firmly into the Republican camp, but he says it is no longer enough for him to claim the party.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that while a majority of young white evangelicals describe themselves as conservative on social issues, slightly more identified this year as either independents or Democrats than as Republicans. In 2001, about the time that Merritt was working as precinct captain for the Republican Party, an overwhelming majority of young evangelicals identified with the GOP.

Merritt may no longer, but neither does he consider himself a Democrat. He is just the kind of young evangelical voter whom Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has targeted and Republican Sen. John McCain cannot afford to lose.

In 2004, nearly eight in 10 white evangelicals supported Bush, according to exit polls. They accounted for a third of the president's total votes. In a Washington Post-ABC News poll of registered voters last month, McCain led Obama 67 percent to 25 percent among white evangelical Protestants. Obama's campaign is hoping that young evangelicals, such as Merritt, will be a way in.

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of the best-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life," helped shift the conversation in evangelical circles beyond culture wars to serving and loving others. He is one of a new generation of evangelical leaders that has shaped Merritt's worldview.

"There's a shift in issue focus," says Joshua DuBois, 25, who is responsible for Obama's faith outreach and was formerly associate pastor of a small evangelical church. "I don't think any young evangelical is ignoring the traditional values issues, but they are adding other issues, including poverty and war, and they are also looking at integrity and family."

Six months ago, after gaining national attention for publicly pushing Southern Baptists to become more environmentally aware and embrace the idea of climate change, Merritt received a call from an Obama staff member.

"They tried to feel me out and see where I stood," he said. "They weren't pushy."

A new "Believers for Barack" Web site allows people to blog about Obama and lets visitors volunteer for service projects.

McCain's campaign is quietly fighting back. Staffers are visiting churches and telling people that though Obama speaks freely about his faith, he "takes extreme positions on certain issues that are not in sync with the evangelical population," says Marlys Popma, who oversees evangelical outreach for McCain.

She acknowledged that a lot of evangelicals are undecided because of Obama's extensive faith outreach, but said that when they hear McCain's message and understand Obama's liberal views, they will support the Republican.

Polling editor Jon Cohen contributed to this report.