Trump’s 2016 evangelical support suggests racism never left the Religious Right’s core

Evidence

I have often defended evangelicals against the charge of racism, but the results of the 2016 presidential election, when 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump, forced me to reconsider and to see the history of the Religious Right in a new light. Whereas I had once believed that a commitment to “family values” and opposition to abortion had indeed replaced racism at the core of the movement, I now suspect otherwise. — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 145

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The author’s disciplinary self-revision is the pivot of the whole book: claims about sincerity vs. underlying racial motive resisted one-sentence summary.
• XREF: connects to: White Christians supported Trump despite his apparent moral violations — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 18; The Christian right supports Trump for autocratic power, not shared Christian values — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 169; Evangelical Christianity predicts higher symbolic racism among White Americans — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2189 (+3 more)

Related

• The Religious Right’s origin in segregation explains its embrace of Trump. (similarity 0.89)
• Trump won white Christians by appealing to racism, not despite it. (similarity 0.88)
• White Christians supported Trump despite his apparent moral violations (similarity 0.88)
• Trump won white Christian support through explicit appeals to white supremacy. (similarity 0.88)
• White evangelicals supported Trump because of their beliefs, not despite them. (similarity 0.87)
• White evangelical support alone would lose Trump the presidency (similarity 0.86)
• 81 percent of white evangelical voters elected Trump in 2016 (similarity 0.86)
• White Catholics and mainline Protestants joined evangelicals in majority-supporting Trump in 2016. (similarity 0.85)
• The Christian right supports Trump for autocratic power, not shared Christian values (similarity 0.84)
• White evangelical support for Trump rose between 2016 and 2020 (similarity 0.84)
• Trump converted evangelicals from values voters into nostalgia voters. (similarity 0.83)
• White evangelicals reversed their stance on immoral public leaders within five years (similarity 0.82)
• High church attendance weakens Trump support among Christian Nationalists (similarity 0.82)
• White evangelical Trump support reflects prior populist and authoritarian dispositions (similarity 0.82)
• Christian nationalism, not evangelical identity, drives conservative support for Trump (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Trump won white Christians by appealing to racism, not despite it. #corroborates (0.90) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 53
• Trump won white Christian support through explicit appeals to white supremacy. #corroborates (0.85) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 53
• Evangelical Christianity predicts higher symbolic racism among White Americans #corroborates (0.82) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2189