Elizabeth Dias: Trump is the Protector for White Evangelical Protestants

Elizabeth Dias: Trump is the Protector for White Evangelical Protestants
According to recent PRRI data, President Donald Trump has a favorability rating of 63% among white evangelical Protestants, similar to his favorability among the group in October 2016 (61%). In The New York Times, Elizabeth Dias notes Trump’s original promise to the evangelical community, “Christianity will have power,” as why he still receives strong evangelical support. “Evangelicals did not support Mr. Trump in spite of who he is. They supported him because of who he is, and because of who they are. He is their protector, the bully who is on their side, the one who offered safety amid their fears that their country as they know it, and their place in it, is changing, and changing quickly,” Dias writes.
Jerry Falwell Jr. Takes Leave of Absence from Liberty University
PRRI data from 2011 shows that 3 in 10 white evangelical Protestants believed that it was possible for someone to commit immoral acts in private, and still be able to perform duties of public life. In 2016, that number had jumped to 72% of white evangelical Protestants. On Friday, the board of trustees for Liberty University announced that school President and Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. would take a leave of absence following a series of incidents that received widespread media coverage. Noted evangelical leader Franklin Graham came to Falwell’s defense. “He is a great leader and he has taken this school — it is one of the largest universities in the United States. He’s done an incredible job,” Graham says. “He is a great leader and I certainly support him.”
‘White Too Long’ Receives Praise in The New Republic
Hispanic Children Are Eight Times More Likely Than White Children to be Hospitalized for COVID-19
A new report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that Hispanic and Black children are especially susceptible to COVID-19 infection. “Hispanic children [were] about eight times as likely as white children to be hospitalized, while Black children were five times as likely,” reports NPR. This falls in line with PRRI’s most recent data, which focuses on COVID-19 exposure by religious affiliation. Hispanic Catholics are the religious group most likely to live in areas that are highly affected by COVID-19. As of July 26, 2020, counties where Hispanic Catholics live had a median case rate of 1,386 cases per 100,000 residents, the highest among all religious groups. Hispanic Protestants and Black Protestants also have high rates of exposure based on where they live.