Christian Nationalism seems to be the quality that causes white evangelicals to love Trump
[link:https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/researchers-discover-common-thread-between-evangelicals-who-voted-for-trump_us_5abbd15ae4b04a59a313c5ea?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063§ion=politics&utm_campaign=hp_fb_pages&utm_source=main_fb&utm_medium=facebook|
Researchers Discover Common Thread Among Christians Who Voted For
Trump
This could explain why some evangelicals are willing to overlook that Trump is not a choir boy.
Social scientists have a number of theories on why President Donald Trump captured the votes of 80 percent of white evangelical Protestants in the 2016 election, much more than his support from any other religious group. And the president still enjoys the approval of 78 percent of white evangelicals, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.
Andrew Whitehead, a sociologist at Clemson University, told HuffPost the key is Christian nationalism.
Christian nationalism is an ideology that fuses Christians’ love of God and country. It hinges on the narrative that the United States has a special covenant with the Christian God.
The researchers used participants’ responses to six statements to measure affinity to Christian nationalism:
“The federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation.”
“The federal government should advocate Christian values.”
“The federal government should enforce strict separation of church and state.”
“The federal government should allow the display of religious symbols in public spaces.”
“The success of the United States is part of God’s plan.”
“The federal government should allow prayer in public schools.”
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What they found was that, even after controlling for these other influences, Americans who supported five of those statements and rejected the one on church-state separation were much more likely to have voted for Trump.
Before the election, the Trump campaign put together an advisory board of some of the nation’s top evangelical leaders to provide feedback on issues that are important to evangelicals. After the election, the group has taken on a more informal role, but key leaders maintain close ties to the administration and are regularly asked to provide their opinions.
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