Even the media cannot hide President Donald Trump’s strong support among religious Americans.
The Associated Press reports that about 7 in 10 white evangelical Protestants approve of President Donald Trump’s handling of his job, according to a new survey – support from a bulwark of his political base that has remained strong.
Trump’s approval among white evangelicals in June, released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, was 72 percent. This represents a fall of six percentage points since a similar April survey, but also comes as his re-election campaign steps up appeals to religious voters ahead of November’s election.
The survey was done after a Supreme Court decision last month that gave homosexuals special protection from employment discrimination, a ruling that displeased religious conservatives and saw Trump-appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch side with liberal justices.
Trump’s approval rating among white evangelicals has stayed largely consistent over his presidency, like his approval rating overall.
Beyond evangelicals’ sustained approval, the survey also found a majority of two other Christian groups continuing to register approval of the president. Trump tallied 56 percent approval among non-evangelical white Protestants in June and 54 percent approval among white Catholics.
Among Black Protestants, Trump’s approval rose from 10 percent in January to 21 percent in April, but fell back down to 12 percent in June while U.S. media outlets inflamed racial divisions in the country after a black man died in police custody in Minneapolis.
Trump’s approval among Hispanic Catholics in June stood at 23 percent, with 74 percent disapproving, similar to its level in January. Religiously unaffiliated voters, a category that includes those who call themselves atheist or agnostic and those who identify as “nothing in particular,” registered 24 percent approval of Trump in June, also similar to January.
