Evangelicals may have just lost their reason to back Trump: columnists
Donald Trump's campaign is refusing to answer questions about whether or not he would sign legislation restoring reproductive freedom if he's elected president — and his evangelical support is stuck facing issues other than choice.
The Bulwark and The Atlantic both reported Tuesday that the Republican candidate has found himself stuck between two large voting blocks — and struggling to appease them both.
Andrew Egger wrote for The Bulwark that Trump's campaign appears to have underestimated Americans' anger over abortion rights. Polls show far more Americans support the right to choose and vehemently oppose a federal ban.
But for the religious right, pro-life backing is a key reason for their support of Trump.
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So, Trump is being put in the difficult position of choosing whether to court evangelicals, or to promise laws that might appeal to a wider swathe of undecideds.
The Atlantic's Peter Wehner noted that the uncertainty of what to expect is forcing evangelicals to confront broader ethical questions about the candidate.
For years, Wehner wrote, evangelicals have claimed that the one issue that matters most to them is restricting reproductive freedoms. If that is uncertain, they're questioning if they would back Trump.
"The rationale was always weaker than Trump’s supporters were willing to admit, because Trump’s moral depravity was always far worse and more dangerous than they were willing to acknowledge," he explained.
Trump "has, at the national level, made the Republican Party de facto pro-choice. Having stripped the pro-life plank from the GOP platform, having said that Governor Ron DeSantis’s ban on abortion after six weeks is 'too harsh' and a 'terrible mistake,' and having promised to veto a national abortion ban, Trump has now gone one step further, essentially advocating for greater access to abortion," he continued.