Any hopes that conservative rivals to Donald Trump have of peeling away the all-important evangelical vote from the former president for the 2024 presidential nomination should put them aside as they appear ready to stick by their man, despite all of his legal and ethical problems.
According to a report from Politico, even Mike Pence, who has a longtime love affair with the Christian right, is finding it impossible to gain any traction as he makes moves to wrest the nomination away from Trump.
As the report notes, Christians who flocked to the former president despite the baggage he brought with him appreciate Pence and candidates like Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), but not enough to abandon the former president who they believe delivered the goods during his four years in the Oval Office.
"The difficulties Pence and Scott are having courting voters, according to recent polls — reflects a major change in the evangelical bloc of the GOP electorate in the Trump era. When five GOP presidential candidates take the stage at Iowa’s Faith & Freedom Coalition in Clive on Saturday, vowing to take on the woke left will likely mean more than reciting the Apostles’ Creed," Politico is reporting before adding, "Though evangelicals were initially skeptical of Trump, he slowly gained their trust. His running mate in 2016, Pence, gave them permission to look past his crude remarks and reputation for philandering, among other concerns, and embrace Trump as an unlikely but effective champion of their top moral causes."
According to David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, "Trump has a following who wants to fight because they see culture going to hell in a handbasket, and that’s what’s winning the day in politics. And that’s why he is winning with them.”
Noting none of the candidates stands a chance of being elected in the general election with the evangelical voting bloc, the report notes that Pence's budding campaign may come to a quick end.
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As Christian historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez put it, "Evangelical leaders appreciate him and his sincerity. And at the same time, they would prefer him not to be in charge of the country.”
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