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Most Protestant Pastors Do Not Support Trump

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A recent poll among U.S. protestant pastors reveals that few support Donald Trump for president.

In mid-January, the evangelical polling group LifeWay Research asked pastors which candidate they would vote for if they had to vote that day. Results showed that a meager five percent said they would vote for Trump.

Out of the 1,000 protestant pastors surveyed, 54 percent identified at Republican, 23 percent as independent, and 14 percent as Democrats.

Most (39 percent) GOP pastors voted as "undecided." Overall, 48 percent of the pastors said they remained undecided in the election season.

 LifeWay Research executive director Ed Stetzer said the reason why so many pastors remain undecided is because they are focusing on pastoring. "Plus, they're not in Iowa so they don't have to decide yet."

He also saidTrump's low support among pastors despite his high popularity reveals "a huge gap between the pulpit and the pew."

The survey showed that the top candidate for Republican pastors was Sen. Ted Cruz (29 percent). Cruz also remained a top choice for mainline Protestant and evangelical pastors.

Seventh-day Adventist Ben Carson came in second place (10 percent) among Republican pastors who voted, and received strong support among evangelicals. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Catholic, tailed behind Carson at 8 percent.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Gov. Chris Christie fell short, winning only 2 percent of the vote each.

On the other hand, Hilary Clinton gained 38% of the vote among pastors who identified as Democrats, while Sen. Bernie Sanders won 23 percent of the Democratic vote and Gov. Martin O'Malley won only 2 percent. 

Stetzer commented saying the results show that "Protestant pastors tend to be more conservative than the population as a whole. And they are far more evangelical than they are mainline."

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