“No President Has Ever Fought for Christians as Hard as I Have”: Trump Outshines Self-Proclaimed Religious Politicians in Faith Poll Among Republicans

William FurneyOct 18, 2023

Minute Read

It may seem like a paradox, but the majority of Republicans view former president and 2024 hopeful Donald Trump as a man of faith, compared to politicians who describe themselves as deeply religious, according to a new poll.

Trump Tops Among Republicans

Trump came out on top at 53% of registered Republican voters who said they think he’s the most religious politician in the United States, the results of a poll carried out by market research firm HarrisX for Utah website Deseret News suggest. By contrast, just 14% of Democrats and 19% of Independents hold that view of Trump.

Pence ‘Also Highly Religious’

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Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, an evangelical Christian who often talks about his faith and is also running for president next year, was just one point below Trump at 51%, so statistically both men are tied. Senator Mitt Romney, a Mormon and frequent Trump critic, polled at 35% of Republicans who think he is religious.

Trump’s Troubles

Trump’s personal life would appear unsavory for most Christian conservative voters in the US. Apart from his two divorces, the 77-year-old is on trial in a criminal case that alleges he made secret payments to a former adult film actress so she wouldn’t talk about an alleged affair she had with him.

Trump Indictments

The former president will be standing trial next year over federal charges that he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election he lost to Joe Biden, and also allegedly tried to block the peaceful transfer of presidential power. He is additionally charged, in a separate indictment, of illegally taking top-secret government documents to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida at the end of his presidency and sharing details about them with others.

Favorable Trump Policies

Despite his personal and legal woes, Trump may have gained support among Christian conservatives for some of his policies while in office — particularly his appointment of three justices to the Supreme Court who helped overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion rights, a key hope for conservatives.

‘Fighting for Christians’

Trump has been vocal about his support for Christians in America, telling attendees at a religious festival in June that “no president has ever fought for Christians as hard as I have.”

He added: “I’ll fight hard until I’m back behind that desk in the Oval Office.”

Biden Leads Religious Democrats

The poll also found that the majority of registered Democratic voters viewed President Biden as a person of faith. A total of 63% of voters held the view, in contrast with 23% of Republicans polled who thought of the 80-year-old as religious.

Catholic Biden’s Faith

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President Biden has often spoken about his strong Catholic faith.

“My Catholic faith drilled into me a core truth — that every person on earth is equal in rights and dignity, because we are all beloved children of God. We are all created ‘imago Dei’ — beautifully, uniquely, in the image of God, with inherent worth,” he wrote in an article in the Christian Post newspaper in 2020.

Power of Conservative Voters

Conservative Christians, including evangelicals, comprise a substantial voting group in the US, believed to be as much as 35% of the 332 million population, and so winning their vote is crucial to attaining office.

2024: A Trump and Biden Race?

The 2024 presidential election is shaping up to be a contest between old foes: Trump and Biden. Both men are about equal in polling, with just under 50% support from voters each, although neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have yet chosen their candidates. A recent surprise announcement by Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that he was switching to Independent could muddy the waters and draw support away from either Trump or Biden.

Specter of a Jailed Trump

Then there is the possibility that Trump will be convicted in federal court, over the indictments, and be jailed before the presidential election is held, on November 5, 2024. Political analysts note, however, that should Trump end up behind bars, the US Constitution has no provisions for saying a president cannot govern from prison.

Trump Campaign Rivals

One of Trump’s main presidential campaign rivals is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, although he has seen his poll ratings plummet from a high of around 40% to around 10%. Nearly half of Republican voters, 47%, believe DeSantis to be a man of faith, according to the HarrisX poll.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley polled at 30% while 22% of Republicans surveyed said they believed another contender, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, was religious.