(Photo : Marc Nozell/Gage Skidmore/CC)
When it comes to voting for a presidential candidate, there are racial and political divisions among American evangelicals, according to a LifeWay survey.
The survey reveals that 45 percent of Americans with evangelical beliefs say they plan on voting for Donald Trump, while 31 percent say they would vote for Hillary Clinton, eight percent for Gary Johnson, and 15 percent remain undecided.
When these numbers are broken down by race, the survey reveals majority of White Americans (65 percent) plan on voting for Trump while only 10 percent for Clinton. Eight percent say they plan to vote for Gary John and 13 percent are undecided.
Clinton, however, is the more popular candidate for African-American, Hispanic-American, and Asian-American evangelicals with 62 percent favoring her over Trump (15 percent) and Gary Johnson (7 percent), while 13 percent are undecided. According to the survey, two-in-five Americans with evangelical beliefs are an ethnic minority.
The survey also shows that the majority of evangelicals remain loyal to party affiliations. Three-in-four Republicans with evangelical beliefs say they plan on voting for Trump. The same share of Democrats (75 percent) with evangelical beliefs say they plan on voting for Clinton.
Executive director of LifeWay Research Scott McConnell says that the divisions among evangelicals will persist throughout the campaign.
"This group of Christians share the same core beliefs - but they don't vote the same way," says McConnell. "There are significant cultural and political divides among evangelicals that won't easily go away," he continued.
When it comes to key issues that are most important to them, improvement of the economy (26 percent) was at the top, followed by the maintenance of national security (22 percent), and personal character (15 percent).
Supreme court nominees (10 percent), religious freedom (7 percent), and abortion (5 percent) ranked at the bottom of the list.
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