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Why do white evangelical Christians support Donald Trump?
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Polls indicate that evangelical Christians are losing their trust in Donald Trump

In 2016, Donald Trump received the lion's share of the evangelical Christian vote. However, recent data suggests that this trend is turning and will not be the case for the 2020 election.
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The Argument

Trump has by and large implemented policies most white evangelical Christians support. Nonetheless, his handling of the pandemic response has led to some re-evaluating their views on the president. Recent surveys suggest his approval rating among this demographic, one of his largest in the 2016 election, may have fallen down to 69%. More specifically, Trump is struggling to raise support from evangelical women, with 76% of men stating their support compared to 63% of women[1]. Another cause for concern for the Trump campaign is that the anti-Biden sentiment is nowhere close to the level of hostility of the evangelical community towards Hillary Clinton. While Trump’s attacks on Hillary Clinton were very effective in increasing public animosity towards her, attacks on Biden do not have the same strength[2]. Trump may present himself as a champion for conservative views and policies, but his handling of the pandemic and his continued denial of any mistakes made is taking its toll on his chances in the election.

Counter arguments

Will this be enough to change votes? Figures suggest 8 in 10 white evangelicals would still vote for him[3]. Joe Biden stands against many of the views they oppose and with a Supreme Court position once again empty, the race to fill it is on.

Premises

[P1] White evangelical Christians overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump in 2016. [P2] Trump's handling of the pandemic has been seen as flawed by the most of the population. [P3] Trump has been losing support from all demographics. [P4] Trump has lost support from white evangelicals.

Rejecting the premises

References

  1. https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-danger-losing-support-white-evangelical-voters-election-2020-6?r=US&IR=T
  2. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/trump-cant-figure-out-how-attack-biden/613402/
  3. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/05/14/white-evangelicals-among-groups-with-slipping-confidence-in-trumps-handling-of-covid-19/
This page was last edited on Friday, 2 Oct 2020 at 14:56 UTC

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