Poll: Christians rate Trump more favorably than Biden

Former President Donald Trump fares better among American Christians than President Joe Biden in a new Pew Research Center survey on religion and politics.

• Pew found that 46% of Christians hold a favorable view of Trump, while just 33% view Biden favorably.

• Trump also performed better when survey respondents were asked whether the men stand up for people with religious beliefs similar to theirs. Forty-seven percent of Christians said Trump does, while 40% said the same about Biden, Pew reported.

While Biden is more likely than Trump to be seen as “very” or “somewhat” religious by American Christians, fewer than two-thirds of members of the faith group said it’s important for a president to have strong religious beliefs.

“U.S. adults are far more likely to say they want a president who personally lives a moral and ethical life than to say the president should possess certain religious traits,” Pew reported.

How faith groups rate Biden and Trump

Trump’s ratings are bolstered by his strong performance among white evangelical Protestants. Two-thirds of members of this faith group hold a favorable view of the former president, according to Pew.

A similar share of white evangelicals — 69% — say that Trump stands up for people who hold religious beliefs similar to theirs.

• Just 24% of white evangelicals say the same thing about Biden, Pew found.

Trump also benefits from the fact that the Christian group that shows the least support for him — Black Protestants — is smaller than the groups who prefer him to the current president.

Fully 8 in 10 Black Protestants view Trump unfavorably. Just 32% of members of this faith group feel that way about Biden, according to Pew.

Trump and religion

A previous survey conducted by HarrisX for the Deseret News similarly investigated Americans’ faith-related ideas about Trump.

It found that Republicans are more likely to view Trump as a person of faith than other more openly religious candidates, including Biden.

A key reason why these Republicans view Trump that way is because of his defense of religious people and policies, the survey showed. In other words, their focus is on his political moves, not his religious activities, as the Deseret News previously reported.

Pew’s survey found that more Americans (64%) and more Christians (76%) believe it’s important for the president to stand up for people who hold their religious beliefs than believe it’s important for the president to have strong religious beliefs — 48% and 63%, respectively.

Meanwhile, more than 9 in 10 U.S. adults (94%) and Christians (96%) say it’s important for the president to personally live a moral and ethical life, Pew found, as the Deseret News previously reported.