White evangelicals proved to be one of the key contributors to President-Elect Donald Trump's stunning victory in last Tuesday's election.
An exit polls conducted by Fox News reveals that Trump won by an overwhelming margin of 65 points over Hillary Clinton when he garnered 81 percentage to his rival's 16 percentage.
Trump's impressive performance with white evangelicals even outpaced the numbers enjoyed by Mitt Romney and George W.Bush with that particular segment of voters.
This voting bloc made up one in four voters this election, truly crucial especially in what was initially expected as a very close battle between Trump and Clinton.
Trump proved to be very successful as well in generating interest and inspiring participation by this voting segment in the election. In the 2012 presidential polls, 25 million evangelicals did not vote, and in the process helped Obama win his reelection bid.
Trump definitely did not take this segment for granted as he created evangelical and catholic advisory councils that inspired a massive grassroots movement. This is a phenomenon that was missed by most of the mainstream media.
Trump's choice of Gov. Mike Pence for VP also proved to be a big boost in helping Trump win the support of more evangelicals. In fact, the last weekend preceding the election, Pence had a testimonial video sent out to churches, pastors and faith leaders.
In the video, Gov. Pence talked about how he wishes to be known first and foremost as a Christian, then as a Conservative next, and last as a Republican. He also spoke how he gained his faith and how proud he was of his tandem with Trump. He made a pitch for his running mate by saying Trump has the leadership to " Make America Great Again". Quite importantly, the Indiana governor talked about their stand on issues that matter to evangelicals like protecting the life of the unborn, and in appointing people to the Supreme Court that will uphold such belief.
In contrast, Hillary Clinton's campaign practically ignored the white evangelicals. Hillary lacked outreach to evangelicals. Obama even tried harder in 2012 than Clinton did in the just concluded campaign. At least Obama asked for evangelical votes then in spite of disagreements with issues. Hillary did not even attempt to arrange meetings or interviews with this sector. No wonder then that Hillary's tally with white evangelicals in this election was even four points lower than Obama's in 2012.
Trump reached out and trusted this segment, and they in turn rewarded him with their faith, and their votes.
