Evangelical Christians supported Republican nominee Donald Trump overwhelmingly in the 2016 presidential election, despite concerns the candidates’ questionable behavior wouldn’t inspire the religious right to come to the polls.
About 80 percent of white evangelical Christians supported Trump in this election, according to NBC News exit polls, similar to former presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s 79 percent support in 2012.
NBC News exit poll: 80 percent of white evangelical voters support Trump https://t.co/whqkSPPUsY pic.twitter.com/GH59fymYbG
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 9, 2016
Trump faced criticisms from many conservative and evangelical leaders, and tangled with the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination with around 15 million members.
Southern Baptist leader Dan Darling and fellow evangelical Matthew Soerens publicly denounced Trump in The Christian Post last year after the candidate broadly defined immigrants as “rapists” and “criminals.”
“Mr. Trump may have the support of a few self-describing evangelicals in polls, but he and other candidates adopting his rhetoric on immigration are alienating many more,” Darling and Soerens said.
Nearly half of Trump supporters (46 percent) are evangelical, according to ABC News, and as election results increasingly look favorable for a Trump victory, the New York City billionaire may have the religious right to thank.
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