The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins speaks at New Presbyterian (Independent) Church’s morning services, also in Pompano Beach. The church is an offshoot of Fort Lauderdale’s Coral Ridge Presbyterian

It’s Sunday, and for many that means politics.

Except this week it won’t be confined to the morning political talk shows on TV. Religious conservatives are ramping up their activities with the approach of the Jan. 31 presidential primary, hoping they can build momentum that carries through the November election.

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum speaks at morning services at Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach, where the Rev. O’Neal Dozier, the outspoken pastor, is heavily involved in politics.

The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins speaks at New Presbyterian Church’s morning services, also in Pompano Beach. The church is an offshoot of Fort Lauderdale’s Coral Ridge Presbyterian, which became nationally known for its conservative political activism under the late Rev. D. James Kennedy.

The values voter bus wraps up a three-day, seven-stop tour of Palm Beach and Broward counties. The 45-foot traveling billboard urging people to, “Protect Life, Honor Marriage, Respect Religious Liberty,” started its nationwide tour Thursday in South Carolina with Gov. Nikki Haley. It will travel to key election battleground states, including repeated visits to Florida, through November.

“Strategically it’s smart to cater to these voters. They’re fair-minded. They’re reasonable. They’re shrewder than they were 30 years ago. They understand the political process more than ever before,” said Anthony Verdugo, executive director of the South Florida-based Christian Family Coalition.

They’re also numerous. Conservative Christians, often called values voters, may be the most important single voting bloc in the Republican Party. “It’s a massive component,” said Karin Hoffman of Lighthouse Point, founder of the tea party group D.C. Works for Us.

Peter Brown, associate director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said they make up about one-third of the Florida Republican primary voters. They easily have enough to sway the outcome of a primary contest, said Kevin Hill, a political scientist at Florida International University. And in a tight general election, they could determine the statewide winner in Florida, said Thomas McClusky, senior vice president of the Family Research Council’s political arm FRCAction.

Despite its size, it might not be as potent in 2012 as it has in some past elections.

The economy is the No. 1 issue for most voters, said Margi Helschien of Boca Raton, vice chairwoman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. For many voters that’s far more important than social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. And most of the political right’s energy since the last election has come from the tea party, which is focused on the economy.

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