White US Christians favour re-election of Trump

White Christians in the US continue to favour President Donald Trump over rival Joe Biden for election on November 3rd, according to a new poll. It found that 52 per cent of white Catholics said they would vote for Mr Trump, as opposed to 44 per cent for Mr Biden, giving the president an 8 per cent lead among this group.

Of white Protestants who do not consider themselves evangelical/ born-again, 53 per cent said they would vote for Mr Trump, while 78 per cent of white evangelical Protestants said they would do so.

Conducted by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre, the poll of 10,543 registered voters across the US was taken between September 30th and October 5th – the day Mr Trump was discharged from hospital having been treated for Covid-19.

Drop in support

Where all three major US Christian traditions are concerned, the findings indicate a drop in support for Mr Trump from the position last August when 59 per cent of white Catholics said they would vote for the president (compared to 40 per cent for fellow Catholic, Mr Biden), as did 59 per cent of white Protestants and 83 per cent of white evangelical Protestants.

Timeline: Trump’s movements prior to hospital admission

---

Dave Hannigan: the radio hosts of Trump Nation, a bizarro world where up is down

---

Suzanne Lynch’s US Election Diary: Defiant Trump resumes campaigning in Florida

---

Rooted in faith: Amy Coney Barrett’s path to the steps of the US supreme court

---

By contrast this latest poll showed that 90 per cent of black Protestant registered voters, 70 per cent of Jews and 67 per cent of Hispanic Catholics would vote for Mr Biden on November 3rd. These figures for Biden are similar to findings in that early August poll.

Preferred candidate

Mr Biden is also the preferred candidate among people without a religious affiliation, with 83 per cent of atheists/agnostics, and 62 per cent of people who describe their religion as “nothing in particular” saying they would vote for him. These groups’ support for Mr Biden is again on par with that indicated last August.

White Christians make up approximately 44 per cent of US registered voters while black Protestants make up approximately 7 per cent, Hispanic Catholics 5 per cent, Jewish voters 2 per cent, and the religiously unaffiliated make up 28 per cent.

White evangelical Protestants remain Mr Trump’s strongest supporters with 72 per cent saying he did a good job in that poll last August. They were not asked in this more recent one. That August finding was identical to his approval rating among this group three years ago in summer 2017.

Last August too, 54 per cent of white Catholics and 53 per cent of white Protestants who are not evangelical said Mr Trump was doing a good job.