I agree Dukakis had little chance of winning many Evangelical votes. But by not appreciating the perspective of the religious citizenry he also lost large populations of Protestants and Catholics. Take the Pledge of Allegiance. Dukakis was loyal to teachers who he thought shouldn't be part of a civic exercise because of the "under God" phrase. He could just as easily have said this was similar to "In God we trust", and had historical importance- and left it alone. He didn't have to be a hypocrite to smooth some of his rough edges with people with different priorities.