DONALD TRUMP is to return to the White House because the forty seventh President of the United States. Early evaluation of exit polls for the presidential election suggests that Christian voters voted for him by almost two to at least one.
According to NBC’s exit poll, as within the 2020 and 2016 elections, he kept a gradual hold on the support of white Evangelical Christians, taking 81 per cent of their vote. He also prolonged his lead amongst Roman Catholic voters to fifteen per cent: 56 to 41. His support amongst Jewish voters, nevertheless, fell from 30 per cent in 2020 to 21 per cent.
The Pope had urged RCs to vote, but described the selection within the US as between the “lesser of two evils”. He described the Republican Party’s anti-migrant policies and the Democrats’ support of abortion as each “against life”.
Even amongst RCs who consider that abortion must be legal in all or most cases — a stance more closely aligned to the Democrat candidate, Vice-President Kamala Harris — Trump won 28 per cent of the vote. His campaign had heavily targeted the RC vote, and within the last days of campaigning had described his rival as “destructive to Christianity”. His running mate, J. D. Vance, accused Ms Harris of “prejudice against Catholics”.
The exit-poll evaluation suggests that Ms Harris lost among the ground won by President Biden, who’s RC, amongst voters of that denomination. She won a majority of Jewish votes, and of those that identified as “something else” when asked about religion, and of those that said that that they had no faith.
She also lost support amongst Hispanic voters from 2020, with support for Mr Trump amongst this group, increasing by greater than ten points. She triumphed overwhelmingly amongst black voters, nevertheless, taking an 86-per-cent share of their vote, and attracted 56 per cent of Asian votes.
Abortion had been slated to be considered one of the largest issues within the campaign, and abortion measures were also individually on the ballot in ten states. In Florida, an effort to roll back the state’s six-week ban on abortion did not clear the 60-per-cent hurdle that it needed, a failure welcomed by the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. Missouri, Colorado, New York, and Maryland all passed measures to guard abortion rights.
But, while polls showed that concerns about democracy and reproductive rights were vital issues for voters, it was the economy that appeared to cut through most: two-third said that it was in “bad shape”, and 45 per cent told the NBC exit poll that they were financially worse off than 4 years ago.
In Pennsylvania, a key swing state won by Mr Trump, Republican organisers on the bottom made a specific effort to get the Amish community’s vote out. Many don’t vote, but those that do were expected to align with Mr Trump. About 45,000 Amish are eligible to vote, and, within the last election, lower than 3000 forged their ballot.
There were claims on the social-media platform X that members of the community had turned out to vote in huge numbers on Tuesday, with some on the bottom claiming the turnout was motivated by local anger at a raid on local raw milk farm run by a member of the community by the state’s department of agriculture.
As he claimed victory within the early hours of Wednesday morning, Mr Trump — who will probably be the primary convicted felon elected to the presidency — vowed to “help our country heal”.
Referring to the assassination attempt earlier this yr (News, 19 July), he said: “Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason . . . [to] save our country and to revive America to greatness.”
He said: “We are going to fulfil that mission together. We’re going to fulfil that mission. The task before us won’t be easy, but I’ll bring every ounce of energy, spirit and fight that I actually have in my soul to the job that you just’ve entrusted to me.”
He asked “every citizen all across our land to hitch me on this noble and righteous endeavour”, and called on the country to unite and put divisions behind it.
Prayer vigils had been held in churches across the US as votes were being forged, with the brand new Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Dr Sean Rowe, attending election-night virtual prayers, where he offered a mirrored image and gave thanks free of charge and fair elections. He said: “Tonight, tomorrow, and in the times ahead, we Christians have a responsibility to be agents of peace and reconciliation in our communities, each online communities and geographic communities.
“We can do not forget that irrespective of what political season God has called us in Episcopal Church to hunt and serve Christ in all individuals.”
The doors of Washington National Cathedral were opened for a vigil, as were those of churches across the country.
Congratulations from international leaders flooded in on Wednesday morning. Sir Keir Starmer was considered one of the primary to send a message, which referred to Mr Trump’s “historic election victory”. “As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise,” the Prime Minster said.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, described it as “history’s best comeback” in his message of congratulations.
The Revd Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, posted on Facebook that he was praying for Mr Trump. “Congratulations to Donald J Trump on being elected the forty seventh president of the United States of America! I pray that you’ll look to God day-after-day for His guidance and wisdom,” he wrote.
But leading climate campaigners expressed shock and concern at Mr Trump’s re-election. The former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said that the result was a “major blow to global climate motion”.
During the campaign, Mr Trump described climate change as “considered one of the good scams of all time” and a “hoax”. He also promised that he would allow latest drilling for oil and gas, opening up the Alaskan Arctic to drilling, pledging to “drill, baby, drill”.
During his last term as President, he also removed the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, although, on his first day in office, in January 2021, President Biden signed an instrument to take the US back in.
