Dec 27, 2019 - Politics & Policy

Trump's moves to shore up his evangelical base

Rashaan Ayesh

President Donald Trump — Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

President Trump is working to strengthen his following among evangelical voters after Christianity Today, a magazine founded by the late Rev. Billy Graham, published an editorial earlier this month calling for his removal in the wake of his impeachment.

Why it matters: About 81% of evangelical Christians — a group that makes up 25% of the electorate — voted for Trump in 2016, according to Pew Research Center.

What he's doing:

On Christmas Eve, the president and First Lady Melania Trump opted to go to a conservative Baptist-affiliated church in West Palm Beach instead of the liberal Episcopalian church in which they were married and often attend holiday services, USA Today reports.
Trump's 2020 campaign announced last week that the president will be on hand to launch the "Evangelicals for Trump" coalition at a Jan. 3, 2020 event in Miami.

The backdrop: Christianity Today called Trump "grossly immoral" in its editorial calling for his removal.

Trump quickly responded on Twitter, claiming, "No president has done more for the evangelical community."
A group of nearly 200 conservative evangelical leaders sent a letter last weekend rebuking the editorial.
The op-ed sent shockwaves throughout the Christian journalism community, as the Christian Post's plan to publish a pro-Trump editorial in response caused one of the publication's top editors to resign.

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Trump's moves to shore up his evangelical base

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