More Republicans see Trump as ‘person of faith’ than Pence, Romney: poll

More than half of Republicans see former President Donald Trump as a person of faith, a higher percentage than those who said the same of more vocally religious politicians such as former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a recent poll found.

The survey, conducted by HarrisX for Deseret News, asked registered voters which politicians they considered to be people of faith.

Among Republicans, Trump earned the top position, with 53 percent of voters thinking he is a person of faith.

Pence, an evangelical Christian, followed closely behind, earning 52 percent in the poll.

Unlike Pence and some of the other Republican presidential candidates, Trump rarely talks about his personal faith.

His personal history is also one that would seem, at a glance, to be potentially troubling for Christian conservatives.

Trump has been divorced twice and is in the middle of a lawsuit surrounding his alleged paying of hush money to a former adult film star to stay quiet about an alleged affair. He’s also been accused of cheating on his wife with a former Playboy model.

But Trump has consistently won the support of social conservatives, and the results of the poll could provide some insight into how people see him.

Trump himself has noted that his policies have benefitted social conservatives. For example, Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court, all of whom were in the majority opinion overturning the Roe v. Wade decision.

In June, Trump attended the Faith & Freedom Gala where he told supporters that “no president has every fought for Christians as hard as I have.”

“I’ll fight hard until I’m back behind that desk in the Oval Office,” he said.

Among Democrats, President Biden ranked as a top choice, earning 63 percent of voters who say he is a “person of faith.”

Biden has been vocal about his Catholic faith. Vice President Kamala Harris, who identifies as Baptist but was raised in an multi-religion household, came in second for Democrats.

Almost half, 42 percent, of Independent voters said Romney, a Mormon, was the political figure most likely to be a person of faith.

Pence, along with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), have both made their Christian faith central to their presidential campaigns. Both are rivals to Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination.

As for the other GOP presidential hopefuls, 47 percent of Republican respondents thought Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) is a person of faith, while Scott and former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) tied each earning 31 percent. Thirty percent believe Vivek Ramaswamy to be religious and 22 percent said the same of former Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.).

Less than a quarter of Republicans believe Biden is a person of faith and 12 percent said the same for Harris.

The poll was conducted by HarrisX from Sept. 8 to 11, among 1,002 registered voters and have a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.