This archive report was first published on 3 January 2020.
US President Donald Trump is counting on the support of white evangelical voters to secure a second term in office. With the 2020 presidential election just around the corner, Trump is set to launch the "Evangelicals for Trump" coalition at a megachurch in Miami, Florida.
According to a recent poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), 77 percent of white evangelical Republicans approve of the job Trump is doing at the White House. A crushing 98 percent majority of them are opposed to his impeachment and removal from office.
"We have not really seen throughout Trump's presidency any discernible cracks," PRRI chief executive Robert P. Jones told AFP. "Our polling shows that they have been largely unfazed by the impeachment proceedings," Jones added.
Trump's campaign is aware of the importance of maintaining the support of white evangelical voters. In 2016, winning several crucial swing states helped Trump to victory in the electoral college, despite trailing Hillary Clinton by nearly three million ballots in the popular vote.
However, Trump's campaign has faced criticism from some evangelical leaders. In December 2019, evangelical magazine Christianity Today published a scathing editorial calling for Trump's removal from office.
"The facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president's political opponents," wrote the magazine's editor-in-chief, Mark Galli.
Trump quickly fired back with a series of tweets, calling Christianity Today a "far left" publication.
Despite the criticism, several top figures in the religious movement have lined up to support Trump. Franklin Graham, one of the sons of the late pastor Billy Graham, lent his support, saying his father "would be very disappointed" with the magazine's editorial.
