Few Americans believe that presidential candidates Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris are “particularly Christian,” a survey has revealed. reconnaissance New poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs from September 12-16.
Fourteen percent of U.S. adults said the word “Christian” is a “strong” or “very good” description of Harris or Trump.
That doesn’t seem to matter to some of Trump’s loyal base, white evangelical Protestants. About 7 in 10 of that group view him favorably. But only half say Trump represents their beliefs better. About 1 in 10 say that about Harris, about a third say neither candidate represents their religious beliefs, and about 2 in 10 say the word “Christian” describes Trump “strongly” or “very well.”
“Voters really don’t care whether a candidate is religious or not,” said Mary Griffith, a professor of religion and politics at Washington University in St. Louis.
The survey results reflect a shift in how white evangelicals talk about morality and religion in politics, according to Griffith, who noted that there is a white evangelical culture that cares for its children, but “sees liberal outsiders as evil,” and therefore supporting a Democrat is not possible for many of them.
Evangelical leaders are pushing the idea that Trump “is a man of God, and we can’t ask why. We shouldn’t ask why. It doesn’t matter if he’s moral or religious. It doesn’t matter if he’s a compulsive liar. What matters is that he gets reelected for the greater good,” the religion and politics professor said.
Former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump in one of his campaigns
At the Republican National Convention, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, a conservative Christian and former White House press secretary, invoked “God” when she spoke of the first assassination attempt on Trump.
“God Almighty intervened because America is a nation under God, and it certainly didn’t end with President Trump,” she said. “Our country is better because of him.”
“White evangelicals see him as a tool to achieve their goals, such as appointing conservative, anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court,” said Antea Butler, a professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
As for the Democratic ticket head, a large majority of Harris’ fellow black Protestants — three-quarters — view her favorably, and 6 in 10 say she best represents their religious beliefs.
But only about 4 in 10 say the word “Christian” describes Harris “strongly” or “very well.” That’s still higher than the share of Democrats overall who say that about Harris, who number about a quarter.
Democratic candidate Kamala Harris during one of her election campaigns
Butler was not surprised that Trump’s ratings were “low” among black Protestants, and that they saw Harris, “a Baptist influenced by the spiritual traditions of her mother’s homeland in India, as more Christian.”
“I think African Americans have a better understanding of interfaith families, because it happens so much among us,” she says.
Overall, about half of Americans surveyed say the word “Christian” describes Harris at least somewhat, while about a third said the same about Trump.
Griffith questioned whether the reason so few Americans see Harris as particularly Christian is because they don’t know much about her yet. Harris joined the race late, after President Joe Biden was forced to step down in July.
The Black Church PAC, a progressive group, is trying to mobilize voters for Harris. In a recent online discussion hosted by the PAC, the Rev. Tracy Blackmon of the United Church of Christ in Missouri, encouraged pastors to ask congregants to check their voter registration status on their phones each Sunday and to be prepared to use church buses to transport voters to the polls.
“Kamala Harris is not perfect — nobody is perfect,” Blackmon said. “But she is qualified. She is true to what she says and won’t do, and she has the courage to say what she won’t do.”
When Americans were asked to describe the candidates with words like “honest” or “moral,” neither scored highly. About a third said those words described Harris “strongly” or “very well,” while about 15 percent said the same of Trump.
In addition to those who said these words described the candidates “somewhat,” the percentage rose to more than half for Harris, and about a third for Trump.
“I think this reflects a deep cynicism about politics, where people have really come to believe that all politicians are liars,” Griffith said.
