While 5% of white Evangelicals see President Donald Trump as a very religious person, a significant minority see him as somewhat religious, and a majority say he stands up at least somewhat for their religious beliefs, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.
The survey, conducted April 6 to 12 with a total of 3,592 U.S. adults, was completed just before the controversy over the president's posting an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like healer. Debate over the president’s religiosity also continued last Tuesday as he read from 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 inside the Oval Office as part of a weeklong Bible-reading event in celebration of America's 250th anniversary.
The results of the new survey show that a majority — about 70% of U.S. adults — see President Trump as "not too" or "not at all" religious. Another 24% say he is somewhat religious, while 5% say he is very religious.
Among Christian demographics, white Evangelical respondents were the most likely to believe that Trump is at least "somewhat" religious, compared to 30% of all Protestant respondents and 24% of all Catholic respondents.
A majority (51%) of White Evangelicals stated that the president is not too or not at all religious, while 64% of Protestants and 71% of Catholics agreed.
"Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to say he is somewhat religious (42% vs. 8%). White evangelical Protestants — a mostly Republican-leaning group — are also more inclined than people in other religious groups to view Trump as at least somewhat religious," Pew Research Associate Chip Rotolo wrote in his analysis.
"But even among Trump’s strongest supporters, relatively few people say they think he is very religious. Just 8% of Republicans and 5% of White evangelicals say this is the case."
Less than a quarter (22%) of U.S. adults say the president stands up "a great deal" or "quite a bit" for people with religious beliefs similar to their own, while another 14% say he stands up "somewhat" and 47% say he stands up "a little or not at all." About 17% say they are not sure where the president stands.
Among Republicans, 43% say Trump stands up a great deal or quite a bit for people who share their religious beliefs, and another 22% say he stands up for their religious beliefs somewhat.
Around two-thirds of white Evangelicals (67%) said that Trump stands up at least somewhat for their religious beliefs, the highest of any Christian demographic identified in the survey. A quarter of white Evangelicals (25%) said Trump has done "a little" or nothing to stand up for their beliefs.
About 38% of Catholics and 48% of Protestants said Trump at least somewhat stands up for their religious beliefs, compared to 19% of black Protestants.
Most Democrats, or 73%, say the president stands up a little or not at all for people with their religious beliefs. This includes a majority of atheists, agnostics and black Protestants.
In general, Americans’ views of the president’s religiosity remain largely unchanged since 2024, except among Hispanic Catholics.
“White Catholics are far more likely than Hispanic Catholics to say Trump stands up at least somewhat for people with religious beliefs like theirs. Hispanic Catholics, in turn, have become more likely to say Trump doesn’t stand up for people with their religious beliefs,” Rotolo notes. “[Fifty-five percent] now say he stands up a little or not at all for their religious beliefs, up from 40% when we last asked this question in February 2024.”
Originally published by The Christian Post
