Archives for December 2016

By J. Gerald Harris I think most of us can agree that the recent presidential election was characterized by vitriolic barbs, hurtful accusations, flawed candidates, faulty predictions and for many a surprising result. What is even more surprising is that Republican presidential candidate, Donald John Trump, got 81 percent of the white evangelical vote. The Washington Post reported, “Exit polls show white evangelical voters voted in high numbers for Donald Trump, 81-16 percent. That’s the most that have voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 2004, when they overwhelmingly chose President George W. Bush by a margin of 78-21 percent. Their support for Trump will likely be seen as part of the reason the GOP candidate performed unexpectedly well in Tuesday’s election.” Farai Chideya, writing for The Post, added, “In Georgia, for example, preliminary exit polls show that Trump won 88 percent of white evangelical voters, compared with 6 percent for Clinton. The demographic makes up a third of the state’s voters.” It is difficult to say why Trump found such support from white evangelicals, because many had questioned his values. In the end, however, there were four issues that likely won over the … [Read more...]