Trump Wins Indiana With Nominal Christians, Continuing His Trend
While Cruz won those who attended church the most.
Last night’s Indiana primary was the final showdown for the GOP nomination, and unfortunately for #NeverTrump, Ted Cruz lost to Donald Trump. Trump won half the self-identified evangelical vote (though he did better with those who weren’t evangelicals).
A CBS exit poll shows how the votes played out and brings one striking feature of this race to light: the less frequently a Republican voter went to church, the more likely he or she was to vote for Trump, and vice versa.
Cruz won those who attend church weekly (which includes more than once a week), while Trump won occasional churchgoers. As Ross Douthat has explained, active Christians aren’t going for Trump — but cultural Christians are.
There are several different theories as to why that’s happening: some say it’s because those fearing religious persecution are calling for their own tough guy to protect them from political correctness.
Others, including Michael Brown here at The Stream, wonder if it may be a sign of God’s judgment rather than mercy on our country.
If you’ve been wondering, “Does God have mercy or judgment in store for us?,” tonight provides a big data point.
— Jay W. Richards (@FreemarketJay) May 4, 2016
Perhaps some combination of the two is at work. Now that Trump has forced every other Republican candidate to leave the race, the question is what will those more-churchgoing folks do on election day?