Do voters believe God divinely ordained Trump to be president? What new poll finds
Many evangelical leaders celebrated Donald Trump’s presidential victory in November as the fulfillment of God’s divine prophecy, but few religious voters agree with this idea, a new poll found.
One in four religious voters said they believe God ordained Trump to win the 2024 presidential election, including many of Protestant faith traditions, according to a Dec. 13 Public Religion Research Institute poll.
White evangelical Protestants agreed with this idea at higher levels than the rest of religious voters, with 60% saying Trump’s win was ordained by God. Hispanic Protestants followed, with 45% agreeing with this view, the poll found.
Two other groups of Protestants, however, were among the least likely to agree with this view.
Eighty percent of white non-evangelical Protestants did not agree that God ordained Trump as president, and for Black Protestants, the number was higher by three percentage points, according to the poll.
Higher levels of respondents who identified as Catholic, Jewish, other non-Christian religions or unaffiliated also disagreed with the belief that Trump was ordained by God, the poll found.
The results fall in line with how religious groups generally voted.
Eighty-five percent of white evangelical Protestants and 64% of Hispanic Protestants supported Trump, while 83% of Black Protestants backed Harris.
The poll sampled 5,772 U.S. adults between Nov. 8 and Dec. 2 and has a margin of error of 1.7 percentage points.
Some evangelical leaders celebrate
Several evangelical leaders have spoken up about Trump’s win, depicting it as a fulfilled divine prophecy.
The idea draws on different instances throughout the Bible where God appoints individuals to leadership positions both within the church and government.
In January, before the Iowa caucuses, the Rev. Paul Figie — a pastor based in Illinois — told the Washington Post that Trump had been “ordained by God” to return to the White House.
On an election night livestream, Texas-based celebrity preacher and televangelist Lance Wallnau said Trump’s victory in the 2024 election had been prophesied, NBC News reported.
Trump also alluded to this idea during a speech at an event in North Carolina, The Guardian reported.
“My faith took on new meaning on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, when I was knocked to the ground, essentially by what seemed like a supernatural hand,” Trump said. “And I would like to think that God saved me for a purpose, and that’s to make our country greater than ever before.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2024 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Do voters believe God divinely ordained Trump to be president? What new poll finds."
