Notice that this is a recent poll of Southern Baptist evangelical “pastors,” over 4,000 of them, and they strongly favor Ron DeSantis. What does it mean?
I’m not sure it’s terribly conclusive, for at least two reasons. It’s only the pastors, and doesn’t tell us what their parishioners think. Plus, the number of Baptists in the Republican Party may be high, but not the majority by any means, and not dominant. So I question whether this number is going to have a very strong influence on the current Republican race for presidential nomination. Frankly, I’m not terribly surprised at these numbers. Trump is powerful, but he isn’t a terribly religious man, indeed, some of his language, his arrogance, and his crudeness can be repulsive to people who strongly believe in the moral teachings of Jesus. Now, I do think that Trump is not as disgusting to evangelicals as Biden is. I’m a Christian (not a Baptist) and I find Joe Biden to be utterly disgusting. He is a hypocrite of the first degree. He (along with people like Nancy Pelosi) claim to be “good Catholics,” but their politics mean far more to them than God and their church. Trump doesn’t really make any claim to being a religious person. That isn’t exactly the kind of man that most Christians want, but, well, the lesser of two evils. Trump isn’t religious, but he is better than Biden in other areas. So most evangelicals will probably vote for Trump, if he gets the nomination, over any abortion loving, child mutilating, queer and transgender supporting Democrat. Trump doesn’t make straight As on those issues, either, but, again, most evangelicals think he is better than Biden. But apparently, most pastors think DeSantis is better than Trump. At least, according to this poll.
I haven’t heard a lot from DeSantis regarding his faith. He did come out, a few weeks ago, with a clarion statement that he believes in God and thinks that good leaders need to have faith in God. It was a good statement. But other than that, I don’t know what his religious beliefs/church affiliation might be. That may be a fault on my part for not digging enough to find out, but that part of him hasn’t been broadcast widely. I just know that it would be very difficult for Ron DeSantis to be more hypocritical and disgusting that Joe Biden. I highly suspect the huge majority of evangelicals will vote Republican next year. It isn’t enough to give the Republican candidacy the Presidency; that is how far America has sunk into the mud. But a Republican can’t win without them, either.
I also find the poll interesting that Nikki Haley got less than 1%, and Vivek Ramaswamy didn’t get even that much. Where the 7% for Chris Christie came from I have no idea. That, to me, actually makes this poll a little suspicious. Can’t even trust this one.
Anyway, I suspect most Baptist “pastors” will vote for Trump if he is the nominee. Or, if they just can’t stand him, either, they’ll stay home. That might give the election to Biden. Read my recent post on the kind of man I would like to see as President. I’m not sure it fits anybody who is running, but certainly not Joe Biden. Or any Democrat.