White evangelicals who voted in the 2016 election overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump, with 81% casting their ballot for him.
A Pew Research Center “Fact Tank” report published Jan. 31 revealed their support remains strong in 2020 – 59% of registered white evangelicals say they “definitely” plan to vote for the president in this year’s election and 17% say they “probably” will do so.
This is by far the largest bloc of Trump supporters among U.S. Christians, with the next closest being white Catholics (54% say they definitely or probably will support the president).
Overall, 51% of Protestant and 44% of Catholic respondents hold one of these two positions.
Few white evangelicals plan to vote for a Democrat this year, with only 14% saying they definitely or probably would, contrasted by the 79% of black Protestants who plan to do so.
Among white evangelicals who identify as “Democrat” or “lean Democrat,” Joe Biden was the first choice for 37%, followed by Elizabeth Warren (14%) and Bernie Sanders (12%), with other candidates receiving less than 10% support.
Similar levels of support for Biden were expressed among other Christian voting blocs – black Protestants (44% plan to vote for Biden), white Catholic (37%), Hispanic Catholic (29%).
Overall, 36% of Protestants and 34% of Catholics listed Biden as their first choice for the Democrat’s presidential nominee.
The stark contrast in views of white evangelicals and black Protestants is further revealed by questions about how respondents would feel if President Trump were re-elected and how they feel Trump is doing his job.
While 79% of white evangelicals said they would be either excited (36%) or relieved (43%), 92% of black Protestants said they would be either disappointed (60%) of angry (32%).
Similarly, 77% of white evangelicals approve of the president’s job performance, while 87% of black Protestants disapprove.
Overall, both Protestants and Catholics were evenly divided regarding their feelings about a possible second term for the president and their view of Trump’s performance in office.
Among Protestants, 54% said they would be excited / relieved, compared to 43% who would be disappointed / angry, while 54% approved and 44% disapproved of how the president is doing his presidential duties.
Among Catholics, the re-election responses were 48% and 50%, respectively, and the job performance responses were 45% and 55% respectively.
The full report is available here. The topline results are available here.
