The 2016 presidential exit polling reveals little change in the political alignments of U.S. religious groups. Those who supported Republican candidates in recent elections, such as white born-again or evangelical Christians and white Catholics, strongly supported Donald Trump as well. Groups that traditionally backed Democratic candidates, including religious “nones,” Hispanic Catholics and Jews, were firmly in Hillary Clinton’s corner.
Donald J. Trump rarely goes to church, said he’s never sought forgiveness for his sins, and in his acceptance speech early Wednesday morning, never mentioned God.
Religion was almost invisible during the presidential campaign, and yet it is the missing piece in understanding Mr. Trump’s victory. The Christian right worked largely under the national media’s radar this year, but it helped deliver the presidency to a thrice-married mogul who bragged about groping women and has been accused by multiple women of actually doing it.
Fifteen years after the attacks of Sept. 11, Americans have grown aware not only of the danger of terrorism but also of the reality that their nation is far less white, Christian and European than it used to be.
ILHAN OMAR WINS DISTRICT 60B PRIMARY FOR MINNESOTA STATE REPRESENTATIVE.
Ilhan Omar recently caused a stir in Minneapolis after winning the District 60B Democratic Primary for State Representative. This win firmly puts her on the track to becoming the first Somali-American to clinch a seat in a U.S. state legislature. With the elections just around the corner, on November 8, Ilhan has been receiving immense support from the Somali community in Minneapolis.
For years, Asuman Antepli, a nurse at a hospital in North Carolina , said people mostly just ignored the head-covering hijab she wears as a mark of her Muslim faith.
Donald Trump’s attacks on the family of the army captain Humayun Khan, who died in combat in Iraq in 2004, have inflamed the candidate’s already poor standing with the Muslim American community, with many saddened and frustrated by his recent remarks.
For the most part, the voting intentions of people in major religious groups closely resemble those seen in polling conducted at a similar point in the 2012 campaign. Roughly eight-in-ten white evangelical Protestant voters (78%) say they would support Trump if the election were held today, just as 73% indicated they would vote for Romney in June 2012. And Trump enjoys about the same level of support among white mainline Protestant voters as Romney did four years ago.
The share of Americans who think it is important that a president have strong religious beliefs has been steadily declining over the past two election cycles and has reached a new low in Pew Research Center polling. In 2008, 72% said this was an important characteristic. That share dipped slightly in 2012 to 67%, and now 62% say that having strong religious beliefs is an important presidential trait. Meanwhile, the corresponding share of those who disagree that it is important for a president to have strong religious beliefs has been steadily growing and currently stands at 35%....
“Stereotypes lose their power because they’re replaced by true, authentic relationships,” says Rev. Josh Graves, pastor of the Nashville megachurch Otter Creek Church of Christ, describing his project of engagement between Christians and Muslims. “It’s very hard for people to care about people they don’t know. That’s just true of humans wherever you are on planet earth.” More →