-Source-The Conversation-
The influence of white evangelicals on American politics is well known. More than 80 percent supported Donald Trump in the 2016 election. But two of the fastest-growing segments of the American population – Latino and Asian-American voters – also are part of evangelical America.
What will drive their votes in the upcoming midterms?
Voting patterns
In my book, “Immigration, Evangelicals and Politics in an Era of Demographic Change,” I look at the tenacious hold of white evangelicals on political power, despite a dramatic decline in their numbers over the past decade.
At least 1 out of 4 voters in the past three election cycles has been a white evangelical, even though they currently constitute only 17 percent of the total American population.
Given that white evangelicals account for the largest religious group in some of the states hosting the most competitive house races this November, including Kansas, Virginia and North Carolina, it is important to first consider the role of religiously framed issues such as abortion.
Similar religious values
Evangelicals during a mass prayer rally in Boston, Massachusetts. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Popular assumptions contend that religious values are what set white evangelicals apart from others. A 2015 Public Religion Research Institute study suggests that white evangelicals are more likely than other Americans to express dismay that the U.S. is no longer a “Christian nation.”
However, it is also the case that white evangelicals do not have a monopoly on religious values. In fact, Asian-American evangelicals report higher levels of church-going and fundamentalist beliefs than their white counterparts.
And, on issues such as abortion, my research shows that Latino evangelicals express more conservative attitudes than their white counterparts. In the 2008 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey, for example, 76 percent of Latino evangelical voters opposed making abortion legal, compared to 72 percent of white evangelicals.
And yet despite what appears to be higher levels of religious commitment, far fewer Asian-American and Latino evangelicals supported Trump compared to white evangelicals.
In my book, I describe how less than 40 percent of registered evangelical Asian-Americans and less than 30 percent registered Latino evangelicals reported voting for Trump in 2016.
Immigration and race issues
What I argue is that attitudes toward immigration, more than religion, matter for white evangelicals’ political attitudes and vote choice.
It is true that over the past decade, for example, a large number of white evangelical leaders have publicly stated their support for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. They have also voiced support for extending a program that allows young undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children protection from deportation.
However, what I argue is that the rank-and-file of white evangelicals in the U.S. have only become more conservative on these issues. Read more