White evangelicals reversed their stance on immoral public leaders within five years

Evidence

For some, the question of evangelical support for Trump had a simpler explanation: rank hypocrisy. Indeed, in the weeks between the release of the Access Hollywood tape and the election, PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute) social scientists identified a curious “Trump effect.” Five years earlier, only 30 percent of white evangelicals believed that “a person who commits an ‘immoral’ act could behave ethically in a public role.” The month before the election, 72 percent believed this was possible. According to the PRRI’s Robert P. Jones, “This dramatic abandonment of the whole idea of ‘value voters’ is one of the most stunning reversals in recent American political history.” — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 605

Categorization

• XREF: Central quantitative evidence for the book’s core continuity-not-hypocrisy thesis; pairs with the #NeverTrump retaliations in the prior paragraph. — connects to: White evangelical quietism is a tactic that flips when power shifts — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 294; White evangelical political positions contradict their own scriptural and reform heritage — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 175