More Republican voters believe Donald Trump is a “person of faith” and “religious” than think the same of Joe Biden, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney or any of the current contenders for the Republican presidential nomination.
November polling by HarrisX for the Deseret News also found 43% of Republican voters believe Trump has a strong moral compass, 49% believe he is “honest and trustworthy” and 50% believe he “makes ethical decisions.”
According to Republican voters, Trump far outpaces Biden — a devout Catholic — and Romney — a devout Mormon — and Pence — an outspoken evangelical — on matters of faith and religion.
The measures of faith and morality are nearly exactly reversed when Trump is assessed by Democrats and Biden is assessed by Republicans.
Despite his indictment on 91 counts in four separate cases, and despite being impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives twice, and despite his well-documented penchant for lying, Trump is seen by his Republican base as the epitome of virtue.
In one nuance of the polling, Republicans are less likely to say Trump is “religious” than to say he is a man of faith. But on both counts, Republicans give Trump higher marks than Biden.
Only independent voters chose Pence as the most notable person of faith among the field of names offered.
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Republicans said Trump is a person of faith, up from 53% in October. Pence came in second at 56%. Only 34% of Republicans said Romney is a person of faith and 13% said Biden is a person of faith.
On the flip side, 69% of Democrats said Biden is a person of faith and only 10% said Trump is a person of faith. Half of Democrats (53%) see Romney as a person of faith.
Among Republicans, Trump outpaced all his 2024 presidential primary opponents: Nikki Haley (44%), Ron DeSantis (34%), Vivek Ramaswamy (22%) and Chris Christie (22%).
The poll was conducted Nov. 21-22.
On the question of whether a political figure is “religious,” Republicans gave more credence to Pence (62%) than Trump (47%) while only 26% said they believe Biden is religious.
Among Democrats, 72% see Biden as religious and 14% say the same of Trump. Exactly half of Democrats surveyed said Romney is religious.
Among a list of possible virtues, Republicans gave Trump the highest marks (67%) as someone who “defends people of faith in the U.S.,” followed by 60% who said he “supports policies focused on families.”
