• Christian votes in the 2024 primary are a key demographic for the Republican Party, and religious leaders interviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation say only one candidate really stands out. It pointed out.
• Recent polls show that former President Donald Trump has a whopping 26% of the Republican nomination spot, but the odds of a matchup with President Joe Biden are still high, with a 2024 win. Big questions remain about whether Trump will take the White House in a rematch.
• “[W]how do you see [Trump] No one has done as president in promoting or restoring policies that honor faith and maintain moral foundations,” said the founder of the Christian advocacy group Family Studies Council. chairman Tony Perkins told the daily. Caller News Foundation.

As the presidential primary draws near, religious advocates believe that among Republican candidates, Donald Trump is likely to win the majority of Christian votes.

Republican presidential candidates are working overtime to impress devout Americans, and many of them have joined the recent Faith and Freedom Coalition. meeting June has a lot of spending, time among religious voters in battleground states. Former President Donald Trump leads the Republican nomination, and religious leaders who have spoken to the DCNF believe his track record on matters of faith, life and liberty will win the vote of Christians. (Related: ‘All the Boos’: Chris Christie Heckles at Evangelical Conference)

Tony Perkins, founder and chairman of the Christian advocacy group Family Research Council, told DCNF that evangelicals in particular are eager to see the former president re-elected.

“Donald Trump has kind of raised the bar, which sounds a bit odd at first glance because he certainly wasn’t the candidate, given his background and everything that evangelicals would attract. ‘ said Perkins. “But if you look at how he acted as president in terms of promoting and restoring policies that respected his faith and maintained his moral foundations, no one could match it. not present.”

If it weren’t for Trump’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, his infamous Twitter rant against various media outlets, celebrities and politicians, and his recent legal troubles, Trump would have been so powerful from the religious world. support may not be obtained. But Mr. Perkins said Trump’s policies and positions during his first term as president often resonated with voters who often felt ignored by the Republican mainstream.

Trump becomes the first incumbent president appear The annual pro-life march in Washington DC typically draws over 10,000 people. In 2019, he announced the administration’s efforts to develop new federal policies that would allow religious adoption promoters, homeless shelters, medical clinics, and other organizations to participate in grants from the Department of Health and Human Services. announced that there would be

In 2017, the former president issued executive orders. order To Attorney General Jeff Sessions, laws like the Religious Freedom Act passed in Missouri allow religious Americans to defend their faith on issues of same-sex marriage, gender identity, and sexual orientation. asked to defend

In 2020, Trump won 80% of white evangelical voters in 2016 and 76% in 2020, but March polls show Trump now holds 51% of the evangelical vote in head-to-head. , ahead of Mr. DeSantis’ 42%. according to to Reuters.

“I think he’s the undisputed frontrunner,” Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, and host of the radio show Road to Victory, told DCNF. rice field. “I made the prediction shortly after he announced his candidacy last November. What I didn’t realize was that “eventually” would come sooner than anyone expected. That’s it. ”

Many Republican frontrunners were invited to this year’s annual conference of the Coalition for Faith and Freedom to give them the opportunity to speak to and appeal to evangelical Christians. Trump has a strong base of support among attendees, with many boos during the conference for criticizing the former president, while other nominees voted for Trump. completely avoided mentioning

Trump is currently leading the Republican primary by a wide margin. according to To real transparent politics. A recent poll by The Economist/YouGov found the former president winning the nomination by a margin of 26%.

Despite this, Trump trails President Joe Biden in the polls.one poll From NBC News Biden beat Trump 49% to 45%, but new poll Morning Consult showed Trump closing the gap with 42% to Biden’s 43%.

Perkins told the DCNF that Trump needed to “vision the future” to maintain momentum, but regardless of that, the former president’s background on religious issues has led to a lack of Christian leanings. He said he still feels he will vote for the former president.

Trump appears to favor Christian Americans, but other candidates have a chance to cut in by focusing on issues such as abortion, which the former president has struggled with lately.

Tim Head, executive director of the Coalition for Faith and Freedom, an organization dedicated to “educating, equipping and mobilizing people of faith,” said Trump had a solid core share of the Christian vote. but warned that nothing has been guaranteed since the presidential election. The election is still months away.

Head said a candidate like DeSantis could have an edge over Trump in the pro-life arena. The former president flipped the federal ban back and forth and criticized a governor who signed a six-week abortion protection plan in May.

“Governor DeSantis has tremendous influence in these areas, and he uses that influence to bring victory to religious voters on life and religious liberty.” [and] It’s definitely based on traditional family values,” Head told DCNF.

Jeffress admitted that he believed Mike Pence would have the full support of Christian voters if Trump were not the nominee because of his devotion to his faith and involvement in the Trump administration. rice field.

Bob Vander Platts, president and CEO of Family Leader, Iowa’s important major state Christian advocacy group, said: Said The New York Times reported that Vivek Ramaswamy, a Hindu, impressed him with his willingness to answer “deeper questions” despite his religious differences.

But Jeffress and Perkins say it’s unlikely that any other candidate will receive the nomination.

“Look at his four years as president and how he defended all these issues and how he continues to push back the left,” Perkins told the DCNF. said. “He puts himself in a position that many people who have been marginalized and attacked by that culture sympathize with.

Trump, DeSantis, Ramaswamy and Pence did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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