Tag: Values Voter Summit

According to survey data from the Democracy Fund Study Group, churchgoing Trump voters were significantly more moderate than non-churchgoing Trump voters on a host of issues, ranging from religious tolerance and acceptance of immigrants to the death penalty and international trade. After the 2016 election, just 49 percent of Trump’s churchgoers regarded him favorably, compared to 63 percent of his secular voters. This analysis is consistent with Pew’s findings in its new typology of religiosity, which maps Americans onto a seven-item scale from “Sunday Stalwarts” to “Solidly Secular.” The Stalwarts are a good deal more religiously observant than the second most religious group, the “God-and-Country Believers.” They attend worship much more often, they participate in church groups, and they are significantly more likely to say that they rely on religion to make life decisions and that religious faith is the most important source of meaning in their lives. This suggests that the latter see themselves much more as culture warriors manning the barricades against encroaching secularism—even as almost one in ten say they have no religion. When it comes to politics, both the Stalwarts and the God-and-Countries are, at 59 percent, equally Republican. But while the former just barely approve of Trump’s performance, 50 percent to 48 percent, the latter solidly (and alone among all seven groupings) approve of it, 58 percent to 41 percent. By contrast, it’s the least religious who are most liberal on the issues and most anti-Trump, with the moderately religious somewhere in the middle. The lesson that Cato’s Ekins draws from her findings is that, rather than condemn religion as a force for Trumpism in the world, liberals should acknowledge its liberalizing effect on conservative Americans. In other words, the non-religious are bifurcating between a large majority who are very much to the left and a significant minority who are very much to the right. And as their numbers increase, the polarization is only going to increase.

Sexual assault and harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein highlight hypocrisy on the left, according to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. In remarks at the conservative Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit, Conway criticized liberals who accuse Republicans of sexism and said that in the White House, she's never had to deal with the issue. “I hear a lot of people on their soap box, the high-horse cavalry, always talking about women’s rights, women in the workplace and women empowerment," Conway said. "I’m in an environment where it’s practiced regularly. She then talked about a "great juxtaposition going on right now" in which Weinstein, a big donor to Democrats, is accused of "really ugly stuff." "The juxtaposition of that is I’ve always been in a place where women are respected," she said. As Republicans have called on Democrats to return political donations from Weinstein given the growing list of accusations against him, Democrats have pointed at President Trump, arguing it is Republicans who are being hypocritical. The story about Weinstein broke roughly a year after Trump's campaign appeared to be nearly undone by a 2005 tape from an "Access Hollywood" set in which the Republican nominee is heard talking about grabbing women "by the p----." Trump also said that "when you're a star, they let you do it."

President Trump reignited the "war on Christmas” on Friday, telling a crowd of supporters that "we're saying merry Christmas again" now that he's president. Speaking to a packed crowd at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., Trump argued political correctness has gotten in the way of celebrating the holiday. “We’re getting near that beautiful Christmas season that people don’t talk about anymore. They don’t use the word Christmas because it’s not politically correct," he said to strong applause and cheers from the audience at the Christian public policy conference, sponsored by the Family Research Council. “You go to department stores and they’ll say 'Happy New Year,' or they’ll say other things and it’ll be red, they’ll have it painted. But they don’t say — well guess what? He's used the argument on the campaign trail as a way to assert that political correctness is preventing Christians from expressing their religious beliefs. And to bring the point home, his campaign held a "thank you" rally in Wisconsin last December where he spoke in front of a row of large Christmas trees.