DONALD TRUMP is to return to the White House as the 47th President of the United States. Early analysis of exit polls for the presidential election suggests that Christian voters voted for him by almost two to one.
According to NBC’s exit poll, as in the 2020 and 2016 elections, he kept a steady hold on the support of white Evangelical Christians, taking 81 per cent of their vote. He also extended his lead among Roman Catholic voters to 15 per cent: 56 to 41. His support among Jewish voters, however, fell from 30 per cent in 2020 to 21 per cent.
The Pope had urged RCs to vote, but described the choice in 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 both “against life”.
Even among RCs who believe that abortion should 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 in 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 analysis suggests that Ms Harris lost some of the ground won by President Biden, who is RC, among voters of that denomination. She won a majority of Jewish votes, and of those who identified as “something else” when asked about religion, and of those who said that they had no faith.
She also lost support among Hispanic voters from 2020, with support for Mr Trump among this group, increasing by more than ten points. She triumphed overwhelmingly among black voters, however, taking an 86-per-cent share of their vote, and attracted 56 per cent of Asian votes.
Abortion had been slated to be one of the biggest issues in the campaign, and abortion measures were also separately on the ballot in ten states. In Florida, an effort to roll back the state’s six-week ban on abortion failed to 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 protect abortion rights.
But, while polls showed that concerns about democracy and reproductive rights were important issues for voters, it was the economy that seemed to cut through most: two-thirds said that it was in “bad shape”, and 45 per cent told the NBC exit poll that they were financially worse off than four years ago.
In Pennsylvania, a key swing state won by Mr Trump, Republican organisers on the ground made a particular effort to get the Amish community’s vote out. Many do not vote, but those who do were expected to align with Mr Trump. About 45,000 Amish are eligible to vote, and, in the last election, fewer than 3000 cast 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 ground 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 in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Mr Trump — who will be the first convicted felon elected to the presidency — vowed to “help our country heal”.
Referring to the assassination attempt earlier this year (News, 19 July), he said: “Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason . . . [to] save our country and to restore America to greatness.”
He said: “We are going to fulfil that mission together. We’re going to fulfil that mission. The task before us will not be easy, but I will bring every ounce of energy, spirit and fight that I have in my soul to the job that you’ve entrusted to me.”
He asked “every citizen all across our land to join me in 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 cast, with the new Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Dr Sean Rowe, attending election-night virtual prayers, where he offered a reflection and gave thanks for free and fair elections. He said: “Tonight, tomorrow, and in the days ahead, we Christians have a responsibility to be agents of peace and reconciliation in our communities, both online communities and geographic communities.
“We can remember that no matter what political season God has called us in Episcopal Church to seek and serve Christ in all persons.”
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 one of the first 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 greatest 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 47th president of the United States of America! I pray that you will look to God every 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 action”.
During the campaign, Mr Trump described climate change as “one of the great scams of all time” and a “hoax”. He also promised that he would allow new 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.