After First 100 Days, White Evangelicals Continue To Support Trump In Large Numbers
One hundred days into President Donald Trump’s second term and white evangelicals continue to be among his strongest supporters, a new study reveals.
The findings, put out by Pew Research Center, were released to coincide with Trump’s first 100 days in office on Wednesday.
The report found that 72% of white evangelical Christians approve of the way Trump is currently handling his job as commander-in-chief.
That level of support, however, isn’t shared by Americans of other Christian denominations: White nonevangelical Protestants and white Catholics are much more divided, with 51% in each of those groups approving of the job Trump has been doing.
This new data should come as no surprise since evangelicals overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2024, because they gave him a tremendous amount of support in both 2016 and 2020.
It’s noteworthy that Trump has continued to make inroads among evangelicals — his share of the vote went from 70% to 75% in the last three elections.
By contrast, majorities of Black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics and those who identify as atheist or agnostic say they disapprove of how Trump is handling his the job.
These divides, Pew found in the study released Monday, largely reflect partisan differences among Americans. White evangelicals largely identify as Republican, while most Black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics and religiously unaffiliated adults are Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents.
In his first 100 days, Trump has moved swiftly to reassert his agenda, focusing on border security and deregulation, while employing his typically combative style to issue such as international trade. Backed by a Republican-controlled Congress, Trump reinstated many policies rolled back during the Biden administration, including stricter immigration enforcement and expanded fossil fuel production.
Trump has also pushed his agenda by pushing sweeping executive orders. While much of his base remains energized, Trump’s return to the White House has deepened partisan divisions, with large protests and legal challenges unfolding across the country.
Overall, Trump’s job approval rating is down seven percentage points since February. There have been similar declines among individual religious groups:
— a six-point drop among White evangelicals (from 78% to 72%)
— an eight-point drop among Black Protestants (from 18% to 10%)
— an eight-point drop among White Catholics (from 59% to 51%)
— a seven-point drop among religiously unaffiliated Americans (from 33% to 26%)
Both among the U.S. public in general and specifically among major religious groups, Trump’s approval ratings are similar to that of the first 100 days of his first term in April 2017.
In addition, white evangelical Protestants remain a stronghold of support for Trump when it comes to more specific qualities, with 57% saying they trust his words more than those of previous U.S. presidents.
Pew found that another 23% place Trump on par with his predecessors when it comes to trustworthiness, while nearly a smaller share of 19% said they trust him less.
The sentiment is more divided among other white Christian groups. Both white nonevangelical Protestants and white Catholics are evenly split — roughly four in ten in each group say they trust Trump more than earlier presidents, while a similar number express less trust. About one in five view his statements as equally credible.
Meanwhile, skepticism runs deeper among Black Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated. Nearly two-thirds of both groups, 65% and 64%, respectively, told Pew they trust what Trump says less than what they heard from past presidents.
Trump has made great use of executive orders — something that majorities of Black Protestants (70%) and religiously unaffiliated adults (62%) say the president is doing too much of to start off his second term. This is also a common view among Hispanic Catholics (58%), white nonevangelical Protestants (48%) and white Catholics (46%).
Once again, white evangelicals didn’t take this view. Pew said only 27% agreed that Trump had made too much use of executive orders to push his agenda.
Pew’s findings were based on a survey of 3,589 U.S. adults conducted between April 7-13.
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged.