Dissertation Titel: From Tennessee to Tehran: How Trump’s courting of white evangelical voters ballooned into a radical restructuring of American foreign policy towards Iran
Dissertation Titel: From Tennessee to Tehran: How Trump’s courting of white evangelical voters ballooned into a radical restructuring of American foreign policy towards Iran
Case Study: The killing of Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran’s most high ranking generals. Who influenced President Trump to order the killing? What was the role of Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo? How White Evangelicalism did had influence on the decision?
https://newrepublic.com/article/156166/pence-pompeo-evanglicals-war-iran-christian-zionism
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/killing-of-soleimani-follows-long-push-from-pompeo-for-aggressive-action-against-iran-but-airstrike-brings-serious-risks/2020/01/05/092a8e00-2f7d-11ea-be79-83e793dbcaef_story.html
Amid rising coronavirus cases and widespread protests over racial injustice, President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped among a wide range of religious groups, including white evangelical Protestants – though they remain strongly supportive.
Roughly seven-in-ten white evangelical Protestants (72%) say they approve of the way Trump is handling his job, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 16 to 22. That is a 6 percentage point drop from 78% recorded in April, in line with the 5-point drop during that period among U.S. adults overall.
The share of white evangelicals who say they “very strongly” approve of Trump’s performance is now at 59%, down 8 points from 67% in April. (Pew Research Center also asked the presidential approval question in March of this year, at which time Trump’s rating was similar to results obtained in April.)
The same survey finds that if the 2020 presidential election were held today, 82% of white evangelical Protestant registered voters would vote for Trump or lean toward voting for him, while 17% say they would back the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee, Joe Biden.
By comparison, a Pew Research Center survey that was conducted just after the 2016 presidential election among those who were identified as having voted found that 77% of white evangelical Protestant voters backed Trump, while 16% voted for Hillary Clinton.
The June survey was conducted after Trump’s controversial visit to St. John’s Episcopal Church on June 1, and in the immediate wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark LGBTQ ruling on June 15.
A Trump appointee, Neil Gorsuch, wrote the majority opinion that gay, lesbian and transgender employees are protected under existing nondiscrimination laws.
Trump’s continued support among white evangelical Protestants – a group that is highly religious and overwhelmingly Republican – is matched by their dislike of Biden. A large majority of white evangelical Protestants say Biden would make a “poor” (26%) or even “terrible” (49%) president, while 16% say he would make an “average” president.
Only 9% of white evangelicals say Biden would be “great” (2%) or “good” (7%) in the Oval Office, compared with seven-in-ten who say Trump has been good (34%) or great (35%) in that role.
While no other religious group is as supportive of Trump as white evangelical Protestants
– and his rating has slipped among most Christian groups in this analysis in recent months
– the president continues to garner support from half or more of other white Christians. More than half of white Protestants who do not identify as evangelical (56%) say they approve of the job Trump is doing, as do 54% of white Catholics – and roughly six-in-ten voters in these groups say they would vote for him if the election were held today.
Again, Biden does not instill confidence in many of these white Christians; just one-in-five white Protestants who are not evangelical (19%) and white Catholics (21%) say that Biden would make a good or great president.
On the other hand, large majorities of Black Protestants (83%), Hispanic Catholics (74%) and religiously unaffiliated Americans (74%) say they disapprove of Trump. Among Black Protestants, levels of disapproval have increased to 83% from 74% in April, but are roughly similar to where they stood in January, when 10% approved of Trump and 87% disapproved. And among Black Protestant voters, just 8% say they would vote for Trump if the election were held today, while 88% would vote for Biden.