Trump fighting for our beliefs, white evangelicals say

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Since taking office, President Trump has worked to protect religious rights, oppose abortion and support believers persecuted for their faith.

Consequently, white evangelicals see him as a champion of their interests, even though they have mixed feelings about his personal conduct, according to a Pew Research survey.

"Even among this strongly supportive constituency, most do not view Trump as a very religious, honest or morally upstanding person (though many white evangelicals say he is somewhat religious, fairly honest or fairly morally upstanding)," the new report said.

"The survey finds that U.S. adults prize a president who lives a moral and ethical life more than they care about having one who is religious. More than six-in-ten Americans say it is 'very important' to them to have a president who personally lives a moral and ethical life. By comparison, just one-in-five say it is very important for a president to have strong religious beliefs, and even fewer respondents think it is vital for the president to share their own religious beliefs," Pew said.

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The organization found that 63% of while evangelical Protestants, a significant demographic for Trump, say it's very important for a president to personally live a moral, ethical life, 67% say its very important for him to stand up for religious beliefs, 34% say it's very important for him to have strong religious beliefs and the same percentage say it's very important that he share their beliefs.

"Fully eight-in-ten white evangelical Protestants say that the phrase 'fights for what I believe in' describes Trump 'very well' or 'fairly well,' including roughly half who say this describes him 'very well,'" Pew said.

"Moreover, white evangelical Protestants overwhelmingly feel that the Trump administration has helped (59%) rather than hurt (7%) the interests of evangelical Christians. And three-quarters of white evangelicals say they agree with the president on 'many,' 'nearly all' or 'all' important issues facing the country."

Some two-thirds of the same group say they have "mixed feelings" or object to his personal conduct.

"Compared with white evangelical Protestants, the U.S. public as a whole is far less apt to praise the way Donald Trump conducts himself, or to describe him as even somewhat religious, honest or morally upstanding," Pew said. "For example, just 35% of U.S. adults overall say Trump is either very religious (7%) or somewhat religious (28%); a solid majority of the general public thinks he is 'not too' or 'not at all' religious (63%). Likewise, majorities say that 'honest' and 'morally upstanding' describe Trump 'not too well' or 'not at all well.' And on balance, Americans are much more likely to say they dislike (53%) rather than like (15%) the way Trump conducts himself, while an additional three-in-ten say they have 'mixed feelings' about his conduct."

The findings are from the Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 4-15 among 6,395 U.S. adults on the center's online, nationally representative American Trends Panel.

Other subgroups that approve of Trump include white Catholics and white Protestants.

The study also found two of three white evangelical Protestants believe there is conflict between their religious beliefs and "mainstream American culture." Half of those say there is a "great deal" of conflict.

"U.S. adults are split over the amount of influence the Bible should have on the laws of the United States. Half of the public says the Bible should have a 'great deal' or 'some' influence over U.S. laws, while the other half says the Bible should have little or no influence on the laws of the land. Support for biblically based laws is highest among white evangelical Protestants (89%) and black Protestants (76%)," Pew said.

"Respondents who say the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws were asked a hypothetical follow-up question: When the Bible and the will of the people conflict with each other, which should have more influence on the laws of the United States? Overall, 28% of U.S. adults say the Bible should take precedence over the will of the people – including roughly two-thirds of white evangelical Protestants (68%) and half of black Protestants who say the Bible should override the will of the people when the two conflict," the report said.