Trump was pretty far down there until a bunch of these others started falling on their faces and dropping out. It's hard to believe that even Ben Carson had a very brief (and small) lead in the race last November.
Posted on 09/28/2016 3:54:08 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
LEBANON — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both have a problem winning over white evangelical Christians in Republican-rich southwestern Ohio.
Most don’t like either one of them.
But make no mistake: Most evangelicals REALLY dislike Clinton, the Democratic former secretary of state. They see her as too liberal, favoring abortion and same-sex marriage, and a serious threat to religious freedom through her potential appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Many evangelicals don’t know much about Trump, the Republican businessman, developer and reality-television star. They acknowledge being troubled by his background, multiple marriages and bravado, but they say they’re willing to overlook much of that and take a chance with him even if he wasn’t originally their first or second choice.
“Sometimes you have to choose between dumb and evil. I’ll take dumb,” said the Rev. Tom Pendergrass, senior pastor of Urbancrest, a Baptist church in Lebanon northeast of Cincinnati in Warren County.
“Individually, I will vote for Donald Trump, even though I don’t agree with him,” Pendergrass said. “I hope someone gives him wise biblical counsel.”
Pendergrass is also concerned about Clinton’s gun-control advocacy.
“I am a gun owner,” he said. “I can hit just about anything I shoot. If somebody breaks into my house, I’ll put a hole in them.”
Darryl Blair, a former factory worker and charter-boat captain, now works part time at Lennartz Olde Time Barber Shop in Springboro.
“If I did a poll in my barbershop, Trump would win in a landslide,” Blair said. “I don’t ask people, but if they tell me who they’re going to vote for, they say, ‘Anybody but her.’”
He added that “Trump’s a loudmouth. He’s a blowhard. But I don’t believe the man is an out-and-out liar.”
Not all churchgoers fall in line with Trump.
The Rev. Rich Jones, pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, won a contest to meet Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Jones said he likes Clinton and will vote for her.
Jones, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, has an evangelical background and noted that there are evangelicals in his mainline Presbyterian congregation. He has heard a great deal of anti-Clinton rhetoric from them.
“I do think this election has consequences,” he said. “If I were to support Trump, I don’t know how I could face my Hispanic friends, my LGBT friends, or refugees in my neighborhood. I don’t know how I could, as a follower of Jesus, say, ‘You are somehow less than human.’”
What is shaping up in this critical corner of the state is an election hinging as much on the anti-Clinton vote as the pro-Trump vote.
“In the primary, Trump was one of the bottom for me. Anybody but Trump would have been my pick,” said Doug Shope of Lebanon, a teaching pastor at a Nazarene church. “Now he’s what we’ve got. I don’t necessarily trust him. He’s our best bet, but it’s still a gamble.”
Many evangelical voters say they are under siege for their religious beliefs, battered by the ban on government-sanctioned prayer in public schools, challenges to displays of religious symbols such as the Ten Commandments on public property, and the Supreme Court’s ruling last year allowing same-sex marriage.
White evangelical Christian voters continue to play a crucial role in GOP politics. They make up one-third of voters who strongly support or lean Republican and one-fifth of all U.S. registered voters, according to the Pew Research Center on Religion & Public Life.
Many evangelicals stayed home in 2012 instead of turning out to vote for Mitt Romney, a Mormon. But a Pew survey in June showed that they appear to be coming home to Trump: Seventy-eight percent said they planned to vote for the GOP nominee. At the same time, “religiously unaffiliated voters” — self-described as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” — were firmly in Clinton’s camp, along with black Protestants and Hispanic Catholics, Pew found.
Ohio’s eight-county southwestern region is vital to GOP hopes of balancing or overcoming more Democratic areas of the state, especially northeastern Ohio.
Several people interviewed by The Dispatch said they had preferred other Republicans to Trump in the primary season, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida or former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Lori Viars, a member of the Warren County GOP Central Committee and a member of Right to Life, acknowledged that Trump “is a question mark. But if he’s elected, I could sleep at night. If Hillary gets elected, I’d be terrified.”
Trump was Viars’ fourth choice. But, like Shope, she said he’s the better of the final two.
“Even if we don’t like Trump, he gives us the chance to fight another day,” Viars said. “It’s all about the Supreme Court. We’ve got to have a chance at saving the Supreme Court.”
The Rev. Bruce Moore, pastor of Bethel Assembly of God in Clermont County and a member of the Springboro City Council, describes himself as an “ultra-conservative Republican.” He is concerned that a Clinton victory would assure the appointment of liberal judges who would rule against issues important to evangelical Christians.
“I am going to vote for the Supreme Court Donald Trump said he would give us,” Moore said. “There’s great potential. Trump is a work in progress on biblical ethics.”
Some evangelicals are taking a balanced approach.
Troy Jackson, executive director at the AMOS Project, an inner-city Cincinnati federation of churches and a former senior pastor of University Christian Church in Cincinnati, said he’s not seeing “a great deal of excitement” about the election.
“I think some evangelicals will stay in the Republican column, and some will vote only on down-ballot candidates and not the top of the ticket. I think it’s going to be a real mix.”
The overall evangelical surge to Trump isn’t limited to older voters.
Glen Duerr, an assistant professor of international studies at Cedarville University, a Baptist college about 50 miles southwest of Columbus, recently polled self-reported evangelical students. Of 731 respondents who said they are registered to vote in Ohio or another state, 53 percent said they will vote for Trump, 12 percent said they support Libertarian Gary Johnson, and just 5 percent said they favor Clinton. Twenty-three percent were undecided.
"In the end, the crowd always chooses Barabbas."
“Be prepared to be disappointed. I have no faith that he’ll follow through on anything of that sort. “
He isnt going to king or a dictator.
Him being president is not an invitation for the right to kick up their heels and sit on their butts like they do every election, and just toss peanuts and flap their gums.
This time EVERYONE needs to be stay active and involved in dismantling the past 15 years of crap.
If we want this stuff done, then we had all better be ready to help him and not go to sleep.
I agree. This is basically a stupid condescending and patronizing piece.
And that still almost got us Harriet Miers -- nominated by that @sshole who was allegedly an evangelical himself.
Remember?
Many Evangelicals need to understand they aren’t electing a pastor.
I have an idea that they wouldn't agree if they were electing a pastor.
Jimmy Carter ran as a "born again evangelical" and look how that turned out.
They need to rethink their purity test
Over 50 Republicans came out today in force for Trump led by Rumsfeld.
The purge will be the Obama flunkies and the Muslim Brotherhood put into positions of National power
Jeh, Comey, the IRS, Yellin BYE BYE and that is just the beginning.
I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE ALL THE “YOU ARE FIREDS”
I spend time in Ohio and if yard signs are a measure trump is far ahead in any rural area of Ohio I’ve been thru and that’s most.
Sounds like the good reverend should be more worried about facing God and less about facing his Hispanic, LGBT and refugee friends....
Sounds like the Columbus Dispatch is pissed.
They like Trump just fine. Another line of BS from the media
“...I’ll take dumb...”
Really? Dumb? Mr. Trump is an Ivy league graduate. He graduated from the Wharton School of Business within the ivy league University of Pennsylvania ranked #5 of the ivies.
Dumb Mr. Trump is not.
PCUSA, of course, although not particularly proud of the fact on their web site. They have a large facility, but went from about 180 members to about a third of that between 2006 and 2010, recovering to a present count of 69. Actual worship attendance is 45.
The reluctant voters are about as indecisive as teens.
What a joke!
“Many (maybe even MOST) of Trump’s current supporters would say the same thing. “
Well, everyone I know and everyone Mrs Catnipman knows who is for Trump, he was and still is OUR NUMBER ONE CHOICE!
None of us have EVER been lukewarm about Donald Trump!
Trump was pretty far down there until a bunch of these others started falling on their faces and dropping out. It's hard to believe that even Ben Carson had a very brief (and small) lead in the race last November.
No candidate has ever been as thoroughly corrupt as Mrs. Bill Clinton. How someone who purports to be a Christian could vote for her to lead this country is a mystery to the rest of us. As Jesus says, “By their fruit you will know them.” She has produced evil fruit for decades, including all of the seven mortal sins.
“They acknowledge being troubled by his background, multiple marriages and bravado...”
I seriously doubt that committed men of the cloth are bothered by bravado. Jesus was bold when confronting the politicians of His day.
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