Christian Voters Are Likely To Put Their Faith In Trump. Here’s Why

Daily Caller ^ | July 16, 2023 | KATE ANDERSON

[SoConPubbie]

Christian Voters Are Likely To Put Their Faith In Trump. Here’s Why

• The Christian vote in the 2024 primaries is an important demographic for Republicans, and religious leaders that spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation indicated that only one candidate really stands out.
• Recent polls show former President Donald Trump winning the GOP nomination spot by as much as 26%, while his chances against President Joe Biden still present a large question about whether or not a 2024 rematch would place Trump in the White House.
• “[W]hen you look at how [Trump] performed as president in what he did in terms of advancing or restoring policies that respected faith and upheld a moral foundation, no one comes close,” Tony Perkins, the founder and president of the Family Research Council, a Christian advocacy organization, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

As the presidential primaries approach, religious advocates believe that Donald Trump, of all Republican candidates, is likely to claim a large majority of the Christian vote.

Republican presidential candidates have been working overtime to impress religious Americans, with many attending the recent Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in June and spending large amounts of time among religious voters in battleground states. Former President Donald Trump is leading the GOP contenders, and religious leaders that spoke to the DCNF believe his previous record on issues of faith, life and freedom will win him the Christian vote. (RELATED: ‘You Can Boo All You Want’: Chris Christie Heckled At Evangelical Conference)

Evangelicals, particularly, are keen to see the former president back in office, according to Tony Perkins, the founder and president of the Family Research Council, a Christian advocacy organization, that spoke to the DCNF.

“Donald Trump kind of raised the bar, which sounds a little odd on its face, because he certainly was not a candidate when given his background, and everything that evangelicals would have been drawn toward,” Perkins said. “But when you look at how he performed as president in what he did in terms of advancing or restoring policies that respected faith and upheld a moral foundation, no one comes close.”

Trump’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, his infamous, expletive-filled Twitter rants against various media, celebrity and political figures and his more recent trouble with the law might otherwise preclude him from gaining such strong support from religious circles; however, Trump’s policies and stances during his first term as president often resonated with those same voters who have often felt ignored by more mainstream Republicans, according to Perkins.

Trump made waves as the first sitting president to appear publicly at the March for Life, an annual pro-life march in D.C. that usually draws upwards of 10,000 people. In 2019, he announced that his administration was working on creating a new federal policy that allowed religious adoption facilitators, homeless shelters, health care clinics and other organizations to participate in grants from the Department of Health and Human Services.

In 2017, the former president issued an executive order to Attorney General Jeff Sessions to defend laws like the “Religious Liberty Accommodations Act,” which allows religious Americans to adhere to their faith on issues of same-sex marriage and gender identity and sexual orientation, that was passed in Missouri.

In 2020, Trump took 80% of white evangelical voters in 2016 and 76% in 2020, while a March poll found that in a head-to-head matchup, Trump is currently holding 51% of the evangelical vote over DeSantis’ 42%, according to Reuters.

“I think he’s the undisputed favorite,” Robert Jeffress, the pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, and host of the radio show Pathway To Victory, told the DCNF. “I made a prediction shortly after he announced his candidacy last November. I said that eventually, evangelicals would coalesce again around Trump, some of them might try to kick the tires of different candidates, but eventually, they would coalesce. What I didn’t realize was that ‘eventually’ would come sooner than anybody expected.”

The Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual conference this year hosted many of the top GOP contenders to give them a chance to speak to evangelical Christians and appeal for their support. Trump had a strong base of support among the attendees, with many booing fellow candidate Chris Christie during the conference for criticizing the former president, while other potential nominees avoided mentioning Trump entirely.

Trump is currently leading the pack in the Republican primaries by significant margins, according to Real Clear Politics. The most recent poll from the Economist/YouGov showed the former president winning the nomination spot by 26%.

Despite this, Trump has been trailing President Joe Biden in the polls. One poll from NBC News had Biden beating Trump at 49% to 45% but a new poll by the Morning Consult showed Trump closing the gap at 42% to Biden’s 43%.

Perkins told the DCNF that for Trump to keep up the momentum he will need to “cast a vision of the future” but said that regardless he felt Christians’ inclination was still to vote for the former president due to his previous record on religious issues.

While Trump appears to have a hold on Christian Americans, other candidates have chances at making inroads by focusing on issues like abortion, where the former president has struggled lately.

Tim Head, the executive director for the Faith and Freedom Coalition, an organization dedicated to “educating, equipping, and mobilizing people of faith,” agreed that Trump has a solid core percentage of the Christian vote, but cautioned that nothing is guaranteed since the election is still many months away.

Head explained that candidates like DeSantis could have an advantage over Trump in the pro-life arena after the former president went back and forth on a federal ban and criticized the governor for signing six-week abortion protections in May.

“Governor DeSantis has a lot of influence in this type of area, and he’s using that influence to deliver victories for religious voters on life, religious liberty [and] certainly on traditional family values,” Head told the DCNF.

Jeffress conceded that in the event that Trump does not become the nominee, he believed Mike Pence would be the one to receive the full support of Christian voters due to his commitment to his faith and his involvement in the Trump administration.

Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of the Family Leader, a Christian advocacy organization in the key primary state of Iowa, told the New York Times that Vivek Ramaswamy, who is Hindu, impressed him despite the difference in faith because he was willing to answer the “deeper questions.”

The odds, however, are against any other candidate taking the nomination, according to Jeffress and Perkins.

“When you look at his four years as president and how he championed all of these issues, and look at how he continues to push back on the left,” Perkins told the DCNF. “He puts himself into a position that many who have been marginalized and attacked by the culture identify with. So I think he’s in a very strong position from this standpoint.”

Trump, DeSantis, Ramaswamy and Pence did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

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[rovenstinez]

I deeply appreciated, admired, and respected the words of President Donald J. Trump spoken at the UN in New York City, calling 80% of the nations of the world to allow Freedom of Religion. Just think 80% of the nations on Earth do not allow their citizens the Freedom to choose their own religion.

[Moorings]

This christian does not "put my faith in" Trump.

My faith is in the God of all creation, in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Trump is just the best candidate running right now for me. However he is a human. It is wrong to put one's faith in a human, because humans are a fallen race and likely to fail anytime and disappoint you.

The One who can truly save this country is the God of the Bible. All blessings flow from Him, and He decides which nation rises and which ones fall.

[Olog-hai]

Opus?

[Olog-hai]

Christian Voters Are Likely To Put Their Faith In Trump

Great way to insult Trump supporters, Kate, by implying they put faith in a man and not God.

[EEGator]

Yep, but you’re going to get trashed for saying it.

[metmom]

Nobody is putting their faith in Trump.

Christian’s faith is in Jesus Christ.

However, I’m not surprised they would vote for him as he is the only one even close to reflecting their values.

[cowboyusa]

He is fighting the nwo. Good enough for me.

[joma89]

I will be voting for President Trump. I trust 81 million others will do the same.

[metmom]

Exactly.

[SaveFerris]

And yet so few admit the enormous machine against him.

Which has NEVER stopped.

[Olog-hai]

Fraud denial is still rampant, never mind falsely attributing to Trump things done by state governments.

[SaveFerris]

It’s crazy - as if one man could overcome the system and all of the snakes

[aimhigh]

Christian Voters Are Likely To Put Their Faith In Trump.

"Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.", Jer 17:5

"In order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, (He) gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men.’" Dan 4:17

I will trust in God.

[daniel1212]

You are a devout Bible-fundamental Jesus believer. Or devout Catholic or Mormon. Why do you and your religious principles support and defend President Trump? Otherwise, why wouldn't you?

Daniel Hamilton

An Evangelical Preaching PeaceByJesus Thru Repentant Faith · Updated May 29 ·

"Devout Bible-fundamental Jesus believer" fits many evangelicals, not Catholics or Mormons, and even considering the alternative from the perspective of the former should suffice for now, as illustrated by this imperfect analogy:

You are at a port along with many other people, trying to continue on a long journey to get to your preferred destination, and you have a choice between two companies, ships, captains and crews.

The ship on the Left is sailing hard to starboard, and insists on engaging in very non-traditional social engineering, and has a destination quite different than where you want to go live. The captain of this ship, owned by Soros and company enterprises, is far more to the Left than the professed peace-loving, Kerry-for-President, former pot-smoking (but who did not inhale) liberals of a few years ago, and not only ardently supports a women's right to kill the unborn up to birth and maybe beyond, but treats as virtues such practices as allowing transwomen men to use a bathroom with your wife or daughter, and condemns even referring to such according to biology.

Ever seeking to increasingly power of control and the politically incorrect speech of others, the captain is always striving to fundamentally transform the society which produced the U.S. Constitution and anything that reminds him (or “she” or “they” as the captain and crew may choose to I.D. as), of Biblical values. and abhors those “deplorables” who the captain derides as “clinging to guns and religion.“

In that interest, the captain informs you that on this ship there are many polices to be followed, which have been adopted from practices, principals or proposals of many elite liberal institutions of “higher” education. Which means:

• This ship plans to fly the flag of Sodom, and anything but support for the nation for which it stands - such as refusing to salute said flag when its anthem is played - will be considered evidence of homophobia, which is profoundly intolerable. Those found guilty of such can face severe economic sanctions

More https://www.quora.com/You-are-a-devout-Bible-fundamental-Jesus-believer-Or-devout-Catholic-or-Mormon-Why-do-you-and-your-religious-principles-support-and-defend-President-Trump-Otherwise-why-wouldnt-you/answer/Daniel-Hamilton-53

[SaveFerris]

[Jeffress conceded that in the event that Trump does not become the nominee, he believed Mike Pence would be the one to receive the full support of Christian voters due to his commitment to his faith and his involvement in the Trump administration.]

[BrandtMichaels]

Yep, and you deserve to get trashed for saying it.