AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Exit polls show that Donald Trump again received major support from white Christians this election. The numbers were especially strong among white evangelicals. Trump also made inroads with Hispanic Catholics, and Muslim voters moved away from Democrats, likely due to the Biden-Harris administration's stance in the Israel-Hamas war. Joining us now to talk through some of this data is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Good morning.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Good morning.
RASCOE: So a big increase in support from Hispanic Christians - what do you know about that?
DEROSE: Well, Ayesha, nearly two-thirds of Hispanic Protestants voted for Trump, and a little more than half of Hispanic Catholics voted for him. Now, that's far more than in the past. Back in 2020, about a third of Hispanic Catholics voted for the GOP candidate. That's a big change. These numbers, by the way, Ayesha, are from Edison Research, which conducts exit polls for U.S. media.
RASCOE: What do the exit polls say about what motivated these Hispanic Catholics? Was it the same reason why Hispanics in general moved towards Trump?
DEROSE: Well, from what we've seen, most Hispanic Catholics said they were voting for Trump due to economic reasons and not religious ones, and that's the same reason a lot of other voters moved to Trump. In the Diocese of Yakima in Washington State, they're about 75% Latino. And here's how the bishop there, Joseph Tyson, says he'll be talking with his flock about the election, knowing full well there's a lot of disagreement within the church.
JOSEPH TYSON: I'm encouraging people to be gentle and caring of each other, that anytime there's an election, that there are people that are happy with the outcome and sad with the outcome and that we're all in a variety of places and that we're all one body of Christ.
DEROSE: And pastors often say they need to be delicate when talking about politics, knowing their congregations aren't of one mind. And that's true, Ayesha, across denominations.
RASCOE: We've also heard a lot about white Christian support for Trump. Various groups spent millions of dollars trying to win away Christian voters for Harris. What kind of effect did they have?
DEROSE: Well, almost none - Trump got about 80% of the white evangelical vote this year, as well as large majorities of white Protestants in general and white Catholics. All of those Christian groups have been a stalwart constituency for Trump. And what's remarkable is how consistent they've been every time he's run. They've stayed with him regardless of his behavior through January 6, the criminal indictments, convictions, civil findings against him regarding sexual assault and his wavering answer on whether he supports a national abortion ban.
Now, one reason, say supporters, is that he delivered on overturning Roe v. Wade, and he's talked about empowering Christians in his administration. And one reason his appeal to white evangelicals is so important is that they're a very politically engaged group. They account for about a quarter of all voters.
RASCOE: We heard so much about Muslim voters in the lead-up to the election, that Muslim voters would not support Harris because of the Israel-Hamas War. What did we see there?
DEROSE: A national exit poll from CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, surveyed nearly 1,600 Muslim voters, and it found Green Party candidate Jill Stein getting 53% of the Muslim vote, with Trump at 21% and Kamala Harris at 20%. Now, let's look at a swing state with a high concentration of Muslim voters, Michigan. CAIR also released Michigan-specific survey data. There, Stein did even better than nationally, and Harris did even worse. So it appears Muslim voters carried through on their threats to punish the Biden-Harris administration.
And, Ayesha, one other data point I think is worth noting - according to these polls, about 80% of Jews voted for Kamala Harris. So Trump's efforts to lure away Jewish voters weren't successful. In fact, fewer voted for him this time than in 2020.
RASCOE: That's NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Thank you so much for joining us.
DEROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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