Why religious voters support Trump

This article was first published in the On the Trail 2024 newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox on Tuesday and Friday mornings here. To submit a question to next week’s Friday Mailbag, email onthetrail@deseretnews.com.

Good morning and welcome to On the Trail 2024, the Deseret News’ campaign newsletter. I’m Samuel Benson, Deseret’s national political correspondent.

In case you missed it, we’ve had two recent stories that made waves nationally. First, we scooped the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to deny Secret Service protection to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. More on that here.

Second, a Deseret News/HarrisX poll of U.S. voters found that more Republicans think Donald Trump is a “person of faith” than any other politician. I’ll dive into this more below, but you can read the story here.

Here’s more of our 2024 election coverage:

• Haley, DeSantis highlight back-to-back town halls in Iowa

• As polls show Biden slipping, Karine Jean-Pierre promotes Bidenomics

• Donald Trump expected to appeal Maine and Colorado’s decision to disqualify him from presidential primary ballots

• Vivek Ramaswamy explains the cause of the Civil War at a rally amid Nikki Haley blowback

The Big Idea

Why Republicans think Trump is religious

In October, we commissioned a poll of 1,000 Americans to gauge their views of politicians’ religious beliefs. Respondents were shown a list of politicians — Trump, Joe Biden, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney, Ron DeSantis, Kamala Harris and so on — and were asked, “Is this politician a person of faith?” They could say yes, no or unsure.

Among Democrats and independents, the results were unsurprising. Biden — a devout Catholic, the most churchgoing president the U.S. has seen this century — topped the list for Democrats. Romney, a practicing Latter-day Saint, was independents’ top choice.

But Republicans were most likely to say Trump is a person of faith. Fifty-three percent said so, higher than Pence’s 52%, DeSantis’ 47% and Romney’s 35%.

It was a surprising finding to many. Trump does not affiliate with any denomination, and he’s been maligned for his apparent religious illiteracy. Many people of faith are disillusioned by his brashness, his immorality and his actions toward religious groups, like his infamous “Muslim bans.”

But Trump simultaneously boasts huge support from many religious voters, including conservative evangelical Christians, who backed Trump in droves in both 2016 and 2020. As I’ve covered the 2024 race, I’ve tried to understand why religious voters support Trump, even though his behavior often doesn’t reflect their own piety. The most common answer, especially from pastors, is this: “we’re not electing a pastor-in-chief.”

That could be one explanation why a person of faith would support someone whose religious practice or spirituality differs. But the October poll flipped this around and showed that most Republicans actually do believe that Trump is religious. Why?

Our follow-up poll tried to get at this. When respondents said that they did, in fact, think Trump is either religious or a person of faith, they were asked why, and given a list of potential responses. Some dealt with personal faith or practice, like these:

• “He adheres to religious beliefs.”

• “He is actively involved in religious and faith communities.”

• “He openly expresses his religious beliefs.”

Others focused on Trump’s politics, like these:

• “He supports policies focused on families.”

• “He defends people of faith in the United States.”

• “He cares about people like me,”

This new poll made it clear that many Republicans don’t view Trump as religious, in the go-to-church and say-your-prayers sense. Less than one-third of Republicans who think he’s a person of faith say he adheres to religious beliefs or he is actively involved in a faith community. But over two-thirds say he defends people of faith; 60% said he supports policies focused on families. Over half said he “cares about people like me.”

Meanwhile, the reasons Democrats gave for Biden being a person of faith or religious were far different, focusing on the president’s character, not his politics. “He has a strong moral compass” was the top answer, followed by “he makes ethical decisions” and “he is honest and trustworthy.”

So, yes, that October poll wasn’t a fluke — it seems that Republican voters do indeed think Trump is a person of faith. But they don’t define that by his Sunday School attendance or his moral cleanliness. It’s more likely they view his political actions — like securing a pro-life Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade — as more important. After all, “we’re not electing a pastor-in-chief.”

Weekend reads

Do you trust Republicans or Democrats to get the economy back on track? Poll after poll show that voters trust Republicans, and more specifically, Trump — a bad sign for the Biden campaign, who’ve pushed “Bidenomics” as a key to the president’s reelection bid. (More on that here.) But one internal study suggests that Biden can stick to his economic pitch, so long as he pitches the messaging: stop focusing on growing the economy at large, and hone in on offering families a “better life” — lower costs, higher satisfaction, better access. Biden’s Economic Formula to Win in 2024 (Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic)

Trump claimed immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood’ of the U.S., which — many have noted — rings eerily similar to Hitler’s rhetoric. When Trump had the chance to walk back his comments, he instead doubled down, while also noting he has never read “Mein Kampf.” Here’s a full-throated argument for more immigration from one of America’s longest-syndicated conservative columnists. Immigrants aren’t poison. They’re America’s lifeblood. (Marc Thiessen, The Washington Post)

I spend a lot of time writing about 2024. Why not start talking about 2028? Here’s a non-comprehensive list of 2028 hopefuls, from Harris to Haley to Buttigieg to Gaetz, with an update on what they’re doing to gear up for an, ahem, future endeavor. Which 2028 Presidential Wannabe Had the Best Year? (Bill Scher, Politico)

Samuel

Editor’s Note: The Deseret News is committed to covering issues of substance in the 2024 presidential race from its unique perspective and editorial values. Our team of political reporters will bring you in-depth coverage of the most relevant news and information to help you make an informed decision. Find our complete coverage of the election here.