TY - JOUR
T1 - Was there an enthusiasm gap? Examining support for Donald Trump among evangelicals and nonevangelicals
AU - Pagán Márquez, Alondra S.
AU - Djupe, Paul A.
AU - Mettler, Matthew
AU - Mondak, Jeffery J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Evangelicals arguably constitute an unexpected base of support for Donald Trump. One plausible account holds that evangelicals supported Trump reluctantly, backing him not because they strongly favored him, but rather because they viewed him as the least objectionable candidate. This perspective suggests a possible enthusiasm gap: among Donald Trump's supporters, nonevangelicals were more zealous while evangelicals were more tepid. We examine this account using data from March 2019, just past the midpoint of Trump's presidency, a period when any lack of enthusiasm with Trump among portions of his base should have been discernible. Our expansive analytical strategy, using OLS and matching, explores whether evangelicals offered Donald Trump more lukewarm support than did nonevangelicals, with support operationalized in six ways. Across 36 tests, no evidence of an enthusiasm gap between evangelicals and nonevangelicals is detected. Seen both in absolute terms and relative to nonevangelicals, evangelicals offered Donald Trump fervent support.
AB - Evangelicals arguably constitute an unexpected base of support for Donald Trump. One plausible account holds that evangelicals supported Trump reluctantly, backing him not because they strongly favored him, but rather because they viewed him as the least objectionable candidate. This perspective suggests a possible enthusiasm gap: among Donald Trump's supporters, nonevangelicals were more zealous while evangelicals were more tepid. We examine this account using data from March 2019, just past the midpoint of Trump's presidency, a period when any lack of enthusiasm with Trump among portions of his base should have been discernible. Our expansive analytical strategy, using OLS and matching, explores whether evangelicals offered Donald Trump more lukewarm support than did nonevangelicals, with support operationalized in six ways. Across 36 tests, no evidence of an enthusiasm gap between evangelicals and nonevangelicals is detected. Seen both in absolute terms and relative to nonevangelicals, evangelicals offered Donald Trump fervent support.
KW - Donald Trump
KW - evangelicals
KW - political support
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85195555983&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85195555983&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1755048324000142
DO - 10.1017/S1755048324000142
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85195555983
SN - 1755-0483
JO - Politics and Religion
JF - Politics and Religion
ER -