Presumptive Democratic president nominated Joe Biden
Joe BidenBiden’s leadership over Trump merges in new national interview Biden fights obstacles in bid to remove ties with US allies Trump ‘failure’ on COVID-19 will be central message of Biden convention MORE trying to make inroads with evangelical voters, a demographic that is overwhelming with President Trump
Donald John Trump’s leadership over Trump merges in new national poll Biden finds barriers in bidding to forge ties with US allies. Cheney calls Snowden ‘unconscious’ after Trump says he considers it MORE during the 2016 elections.
Team Biden does not think it can win over all evangelicals or even a majority, but thinks it can cut some of Trump’s coalition by emphasizing the personal beliefs and values of the former vice president.
At the Democratic National Convention, Biden’s campaign will hold an interfaith service on Aug. 16, and a Believers for Biden watch party prior to the candidate’s acceptance speech is set for Aug. 20, according to a Biden adviser.
The Democratic National Committee will also host two inter-Frisian council meetings this week.
The Campaigns Believers for Praying program also plans to host hearings with faith leaders, form advisory groups with people from different traditions, and hold town halls and policy rounds to gain voter support on faith.
Polls suggest that Trump has lost some support from the evangelical community, although he maintains a large lead. Polling from Pew Research Center in April found Trump with a 78 percent approval rating with white evangelicals. It dropped to 72 percent in June.
Katelyn Beaty, the former managing editor at Christianity Today, said the Biden campaign “can realistically hope” wins about 3 to 4 percentage points of the white evangelical demographic. In 2016, Trump earned 81 percent of the white evangelical vote.
Josh Dickson, the director of the Biden campaign’s national faith commitment, said the campaign’s strategy revolves around listening to voters first and then making Biden’s agenda “much more in line” is with their overall good values what we see from the current government. “
“Our argument is that Joe Biden’s vision for America is very resonant with these values of love for your neighbor, of caring for the poor and vulnerable, of fighting systems of oppression, of whipping up walls of injustice,” he said.
Dickson also cited Biden’s openness about his own Catholic faith, which “may resonate” with religious voters.
“I think he has a level of trust with people because he’s that authentic,” he said.
Others see an opportunity for Biden to contrast his character with Trump’s in a way that could appeal to white evangelicals.
Joshua DuBois, who headed the Obama White House’s religious contract office, said it was “critical” of the campaign to “continue the moral contrast” between Biden and Trump.
Many religious progressives are “already overwhelmed by the Trump administration,” he said, but millions of more moderate and conservative voters “just feel deeply uneasy” about the president.
“I think if Vice President Biden can speak with his own deep and strong faith and the role he sees people of faith in strengthening and uniting our country, then he will give some of those voters an alternative to support. , “said DuBois.
The majority of white Evangelical voters are expected to remain loyal to Trump, who has won many of them over with his bid to appoint a roster of conservative judges to the federal bench. At the end of June, the First Chamber upheld the 200th General Judicial Appointment, having filled 30 percent of the courts of appeal.
Evangelical leaders and worshipers who may have initially had reservations about Trump have gathered his entire presidency around him, praising him as God’s chosen leader to pursue the conservative and religious mission. And while some conservative evangelicals may be put off by his personal rhetoric, several of them see it as the ultimate goal of pushing conservative policies on issues such as abortion and religious freedom.
Trump embraced that role and befriended the first sitting president to address this year’s annual March for Life rally, where he said, “Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House.”
Samantha Zager, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, said in a statement that “Americans know by faith that President Trump will continue to protect their fundamental rights.”
“The Biden-Harris ticket is a promise of abortions by taxpayers, anti-Catholic bigotry, and attacks on the religious freedoms that all Americans are guaranteed by the Constitution,” she said.
Ralph Reed, the chairman and founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, said the goals of the Biden campaign to win over part of evangelical voters were “completely unrealistic”, mainly because of Biden’s views on abortion and religious freedom.
Reed, who serves on the Evangelicals advisory board for Trump, said he expects the president to earn a higher percentage of the evangelical vote this year than in 2016, now that Trump has shown his support for evangelical causes.
“Four years later, he has a record, and he has shown that when he made a promise, not only to people of faith, but to the American people, he kept it,” Reed said.
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