{"id":12804,"date":"2016-09-23T07:00:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/many-evangelicals-favor-trump-because-he-is-not-clinton\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:18:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:18:07","slug":"many-evangelicals-favor-trump-because-he-is-not-clinton","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/09\/23\/many-evangelicals-favor-trump-because-he-is-not-clinton\/","title":{"rendered":"Many evangelicals favor Trump because he is not Clinton"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Throughout the primaries and general election campaign, many observers have expressed puzzlement<\/a> at the support for Donald Trump among white evangelical Protestant voters. Why would evangelicals rally behind a thrice-married candidate who is not widely viewed as particularly religious and whose views on the issues have not always aligned with the preferences of most evangelical voters?<\/p>\n\n

A new Pew Research Center survey<\/a> gave Trump supporters the chance to describe, in their own words, the reasons they support him over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Like other Trump backers, many evangelical voters are motivated as much by opposition to Clinton as by support for Trump. Indeed, 35% of\u00a0white evangelical voters who support Trump mentioned that they do so at least in part because he is not<\/em> Clinton. (The survey also asked Clinton supporters why they favor her candidacy, and about one-third cited Trump as a main reason they back her.)<\/p>\n\n

Evangelicals cite other reasons for supporting him beyond opposition to Clinton. Roughly one-third of evangelical Trump supporters also pointed to his issue positions as the main reason they support him, and about one-quarter (26%) mentioned his status as a political outsider who will bring change to the political system as a reason for backing him. One-in-five said they support him because of his personality and “tell-it-like-it-is” style.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

In addition to the open-ended question, the survey asked Trump supporters whether each of a number of specific characteristics is a “major reason,” “minor reason” or “not a reason” for backing him. Overall, evangelicals\u2019 reasons for supporting Trump mirror those of Trump supporters as a whole. Eight-in-ten white evangelical Trump backers said his views on terrorism are a “major reason” for their support. A similar share of evangelical Trump supporters (78%) said his economic positions are a major reason for backing him, and\u00a076% cited dislike for Clinton as a major reason for their support.<\/p>\n\n

Two-thirds of evangelical voters who support Trump said his views on immigration and his leadership ability are\u00a0key reasons they favored him,\u00a0while\u00a044% said they like the fact that he has not previously served in government and 38% are backing him because he is the Republican nominee. Fewer said they back him because of his views on race relations (29%) or because of his personality (16%).<\/p>\n\n

This post and its graphics have been updated and corrected due to an earlier error in the way white evangelical and white mainline Protestant respondents were categorized in the survey.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly four-in-ten white evangelical voters who support Trump mention that they do so at least in part because he is not Clinton. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[],"bylines":[926],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-12804","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","bylines-gregory-a-smith","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":401,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/09\/23\/many-evangelicals-favor-trump-because-he-is-not-clinton\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":23810,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":23810,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":23810,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":23810,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":23810,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png?w=640&h=395&crop=1","width":640,"height":395,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":23810,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/09\/FT_16.09.23_evangelicalsTrump.png?w=640&h=395&crop=1","width":640,"height":395,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Many evangelicals favor Trump because he is not Clinton","description":"Like other Trump backers, many evangelical voters are motivated as much by opposition to Clinton as by support for Trump.","og_title":"Many evangelicals favor Trump because he is not Clinton","og_description":"Nearly four-in-ten white evangelical voters who support Trump mention that they do so at least in part because he is not Clinton. 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