A survey has determined that among religious people in the US, white evangelical Protestants are supportive of the Trump administration because of their abortion restrictions and lessening of LGBT discrimination protections.
These findings point to a evangelical Protestant constituency that’s aligned with President Donald Trump and will surely come into play in the 2020 presidential elections, according to the poll.
The survey of more than 1,000 American adults from various faith backgrounds was conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
According to the General Social Survey, one-quarter of Americans currently align with no religious faith.
How white evangelical Protestants regard abortion, LGBT
In the survey, 67% of white evangelicals were supportive of significant restrictions that would make abortion illegal except in cases of rape, incest or to threats to a mother’s life.
This is higher as compared to the support given by white mainline Protestants (39%), nonwhite Protestants (33%), Catholics (45%), and all Americans (37%).
Meanwhile, only a third of the white evangelicals favored government protections against discrimination experienced by the LGBT community in workplaces, housing, or schools.
This is lower as compared to about 6 in 10 white mainline Protestants and nonwhite Protestants, as well as Catholics that are supportive of government protections.
Influencing policymaking in government
Among members of other faiths, white evangelicals also want to have some influence on policymaking on these issues. About 8 in 10 of them want to have some religious influence on abortion policy.
One example cited is Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the late Rev. Billy Graham, who is one of Trump’s evangelical allies.
“I don’t think evangelicals are united on every position the president takes or says, but they do recognize he is the most pro-life-friendly president in modern history,” Graham said in an interview.
About 8 in 10 of white evangelicals approve of Trump’s job performance.
White evangelical Protestants and other issues
Ironically, other policy issues cited in the poll were not as clear between white evangelicals and other religious Americans as well as non-religious ones.
In fact, many white evangelicals don’t support many of the policies being rolled out by the Trump administration.
For example, majority of them oppose the administration’s immigration policy to separate children from parents who are detained entering the country illegally.
Likewise, a majority of them support higher taxes on the wealthy even as half of them support increasing government aid to the poor.
About 6 in 10 support regulating the levels of carbon dioxide coming from power plants as part of measures to address climate change.