Donald Trump and evangelicals
Donald Trump has received strong support from evangelical Christians due to his conservative positions on social issues such as abortion and religious liberty. While a figure with obvious moral shortcomings, President Trump has pursued socially conservative policies and has chosen to surround himself with evangelical leaders, things which earned their support.[1] Despite this, leftists, establishmentarians, and token conservatives continue to mock evangelicals for their support of the president's job performance.
Trump has praised Christian conservatives such as Tony Perkins, Jerry Falwell Jr., and Robert Jeffress, among others. Due to his political views, which respect religious liberty for Christians, including their right to hold to their beliefs and conscience, Trump was endorsed by these evangelicals as well as other conservative evangelical Christian leaders.
2016 election
According to exit polling for the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Trump won 81% of evangelical Christians compared to 16% for Clinton, a record high and even more than George W. Bush won in 2004.[2][3] Although some commentators disputed the accuracy of such exit polling methods,[4] the polls still showed strong support for Trump from evangelicals. This is largely due to Trump's conservative policies that align well with the Bible, including opposition to abortion.
According to researcher George Barna in his book The Day Christians Changed America, evangelical Christian conservatives played a very important role in Trump's victory, particularly a group which he labeled "SAGE Cons" – Christian conservatives who practice their faith and have theologically orthodox evangelical views – which had a 91% turnout rate and voted for Trump over Clinton by a 93%–1% margin.[5]
Presidency
President Trump pursued many positions on abortion, religious liberty, and transgenderism important to evangelical Christian voters. See: Donald Trump achievements: Religious liberty, gender issues, and other social policies and Donald Trump achievements: Abortion. Tony Perkins stated that evangelical support for Trump was "conditional" on him keeping the promises he made to them during his 2016 election campaign.[6]
President Trump has also stated many times that "in America we don’t worship government, we worship God" (see Donald Trump achievements: Miscellaneous achievements).
Evangelical Christians continued to strongly support President Trump due to his policies. In an April 2017 survey conducted by Pew Research Center of white self-described evangelicals, those who attended church at least once a month were significantly more likely to "strongly approve" Trump's job performance.[7] They stood with President Trump, as seen in August 2017 when nearly every evangelical advisor to the president remained in their positions after Trump made politically incorrect comments related to a rally supporting the character of people who didn't want a confederate statue not being removed, while business and arts advisors resigned over the controversy and establishment Republicans criticized him.[8]
See also
References
- ↑ Multiple references:
- Brown, Michael L. (February 28, 2018). Christians aren’t hypocritical for supporting Trump. Here’s why. LifeSiteNews. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- Chumley, Cheryl K. (February 3, 2018). Trump has evangelicals — get over it. The Washington Times. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- Jordahl, Steve (December 29, 2017). Apologist: Evangelical support for Trump isn't hypocritical. OneNewsNow. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- Farah, Joseph (January 23, 2018). Are evangelicals 'moral relativists' for Trump support? WND. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- Prager, Dennis (February 6, 2018). A Defense of Evangelicals Who Support Trump. National Review. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- ↑ O'Brien, Cortney (November 12, 2016). Evangelical Voters Showed Up Big Time For Trump. Townhall. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
- ↑ Lovett, Ian (November 9, 2016). Evangelicals Back Donald Trump in Record Numbers, Despite Earlier Doubts. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
- ↑ Showalter, Brandon (November 16, 2016). Did 81 Percent of Evangelicals Really Vote for Trump? Not So Fast, Some Say. The Christian Post. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
- ↑ Leahy, Michael Patrick (December 24, 2017). George Barna: 8 Nov. 16 — The Day Christians Changed America. Breitbart News. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
Further reading:- Barna, George (2017). The Day Christians Changed America: How Christian Conservatives put Trump in the White House and Redirected America's Future. Metainformation (eBook). ASIN: 0692905308.
- ↑ Lima, Cristiano (January 25, 2018). Tony Perkins: Evangelical support for Trump 'conditional' on campaign promises. Politico. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
See also:- Starr, Penny (March 1, 2018). EXCLUSIVE–Tony Perkins: Trump’s Commitment to Religious Liberty is Most Important Promise He’s Kept. Breitbart News. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- ↑ Smith, Gregory A. (April 26, 2017). Among white evangelicals, regular churchgoers are the most supportive of Trump. Pew Research Center. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- ↑ Zoll, Rachel (August 18, 2017). Trump's evangelical advisers sticking with him amid fallout. Fox News (from the Associated Press). Retrieved August 19, 2017.
At least one evangelical member resigned, but the rate of resignations was still significantly lower than on other advisory councils:
- Greenwood, Max (August 18, 2017). Member of Trump's Evangelical Advisory Board resigns over 'conflict in values'. The Hill. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
- Chiacu, Doina; Lynch, Sarah N. (August 20, 2017). Prominent U.S. religious conservatives defend Trump after Charlottesville. Reuters. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
- Brown, Michael (August 14, 2017). Evangelicals, Racists, and Trump. WND. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
