Most Protestants, Catholics back Trump over Harris: poll
A new survey from the Pew Research Center shows that while most Protestants and Catholics intend to support former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, voters of most other religious backgrounds plan on backing Vice President Kamala Harris.
Pew released the results of a poll of 9,720 adults in the United States conducted from Aug. 26-Sept. 2. While the survey looked at the overall state of the presidential race with two months to go until Election Day, it also analyzed preferences for each major candidate among religious subgroups.
Trump, the Republican nominee for president, leads Harris, the Democratic nominee, among both Catholics and Protestants as a whole. Fifty-two percent of Catholics plan to support Trump compared to 47% for Harris. Meanwhile, Trump has 61% support among Protestants in contrast to Harris’ 37%.
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Broken down by subgroup, Trump has overwhelming leads among white Evangelical Protestants (82%), white Catholics (61%) and white Mainline Protestants (58%). On the other hand, Harris is the preferred candidate among Hispanic Catholics and black Protestants. She secures 65% support among the former group and 86% among the latter.
Voters belonging to all other religious demographics favor Harris over Trump. She leads him 65% to 34% among Jewish voters and 68% to 28% among the religiously unaffiliated. Eighty-five percent of atheists plan on backing Harris, along with 78% of agnostics and 59% of voters who identify as “nothing in particular.”
When factoring in church attendance, white Catholic and white Evangelical Protestant voters who attend church regularly are more likely to favor Trump than those who do not. Sixty-five percent of white Catholics who attend church at least once a month support Trump, compared to 58% who go to Mass less frequently or never. Similarly, 85% of white Evangelical Protestants who go to church at least monthly plan to back Trump, while 78% of those who attend less often or never prefer the former president.
The opposite pattern emerges when looking at voters who belong to two other religious subgroups. While a majority (52%) of white non-Evangelical Protestants who go to church at least once a month prefer Trump, that figure rises to 60% among those who go to church less frequently. Harris has an equal amount of support among black Evangelical Protestants who go to church at least monthly and those who do not (86%). However, Trump’s support is higher among the latter group (13%) than the former (10%).
Overall, 63% of Christians who go to church at least once a month intend to vote for Harris compared to 55% of Christians who attend less frequently. As for the complete sample, regardless of religious affiliation, an equal share of respondents (49%) plan to vote for both Trump and Harris.
While the Pew poll shows Trump is the favorite among Catholics, an August survey of 1,000 U.S. Catholics conducted by EWTN News and RealClearOpinion Research paints a different picture. According to that poll, 50.1% of Catholic voters prefer Harris, while 42.7% plan to vote for Trump.
Exit polling from the 2020 presidential election shows that Trump beat President Joe Biden 76% to 24% among white Evangelical Christians, 72% to 27% among all white Protestants, 60% to 39% among all Protestants and 56% to 44% among white Catholics. Biden had the upper hand among all other religious demographics, beating Trump 52% to 47% among Catholic voters, 65% to 31% among those with no religious affiliation, and 69% to 29% among voters who belonged to a different denomination.
This Pew poll had a margin of error of +/- 1.3 percentage points.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
