Trump Campaign's Plea to Evangelicals: 'We Need Them to Win'

Evangelical voters get a lot of attention around presidential elections due to their size and impact. In 2016, they unified behind Donald Trump, helping him win The White House. This time, however, division on abortion has the possibility of getting in the way.

"The temperature is not as high as it was in 2016 and 2020 when it comes to who they're supporting," says Tony Perkins with The Family Research Council.

The main reason comes down to abortion. In the past, Trump courted evangelicals, promising staunchly pro-life policies and he delivered. Since the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade, the abortion issue has led to political defeats for Republicans. That's led to Trump's refusal to endorse a federal abortion ban and his willingness to support abortion pill access through the mail. 

He also declared that he would be "great for women and their reproductive rights." That sort of language is toxic – the same words Democrats typically use to push abortion. 

"For an election that comes down to thousands of votes in handfuls of states, I think this is bad," former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer says. "It doesn't keep a key part of the Republican conservative base excited. This was key to his victory last time with the judges and he's undermining it. These are unforced errors right now as far as I'm concerned." 

So has there been a shift? In an interview with CBN News, Trump campaign Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt pushes back on that assumption. "I would reject that there's been a shift," Leavitt says. "I think President Trump has been consistent and clear, even in his first term as president, that the issue of abortion is one he believes and one the pro-life community has fought to bring back to the states." 

The Trump campaign is fully aware it needs evangelicals to show up in a huge way to win. That's why it quickly cleaned up another potential mess recently when the former president appeared to favor voting for a Florida amendment that would essentially get rid of the state's six-week ban on abortion. "I am going to be voting that we need more than 6 weeks," he said at the time. Less than 24 hours later, he clarified his position saying the amendment that would legalize abortion through the 9th month is a no-go. "All of that stuff is unacceptable so I will be voting no for that reason," he said.

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Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of The Susan B. Anthony List, acknowledges the messaging has been confusing to the pro-life voters they are trying to get to the polls. "The threat would be that people stay home because they can't sort out what's the better choice," Dannenfelser tells CBN News. "So it's our job to say, 'yes, I see where you're coming from but it's still the better choice to go with the candidate that will preserve states' rights to pass pro-life laws.'...To be perfectly honest, I'm going door-to-door to do everything I can to keep Harris out of office." 

That does indeed seem to be the prevailing sentiment. "He's not Kamala Harris," Perkins says. "He's not advocating for abortion until birth at taxpayer expense, so we have to choose that which is least offensive or that which more clearly aligns with biblical truth." 

However, Perkins says the jury is still out if that's going to translate into the same enthusiasm. "I do think what is going to happen is that you're going to have a lack of enthusiasm, which means people aren't going to vote for the other side. I always hear this question, 'Where are your people going to go?' The issue is they're not going to go anywhere. Some of them are going to stay home, and that's the last thing we need." 

There is a plan in place with the Faith and Freedom Coalition busier than ever on the ground. "We're knocking on 10 million doors, we're making 10 million get-out-the-vote calls, we're sending 28 million get-out-the-vote texts, and we're putting voter guides in churches," says Ralph Reed, the CEO of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. "As we speak, we're registering voters in 500 to 1,000 churches in each of these battleground states." 

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Reed believes born-again, Bible-believing Evangelical voter turnout will be bigger than in 2016 or 2020. 

While abortion has been tricky, supporters maintain Trump still advocates for conservative pro-family policies. Also, this time around, new federal election rules allow the Trump campaign to work with outside groups like Faith and Freedom to mobilize voters. 

Reed has a warning to conservative Christian voters who stay home. "I will tell you this," Reed begins. "Donald Trump sometimes says and does things that I wish he wouldn't say or do, but he is the most pro-life advocate we've ever had sitting behind the resolute desk, sitting in the Oval Office. He delivered for us...This is about the sanctity of life. If they stay home, then they don't deserve to have this victory. They don't deserve to have leaders like that." 

As for the Trump Campaign, it recently launched its, "Believers for Trump Coalition."

"The evangelical community is a massive part of our campaign, and we need them to win on November the 5th," Trump Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt tells CBN News. "Our campaign understands that. President Trump understands that." 

PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, pray during the Republican National Convention Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

The campaign says this group has signed up more than 2,000 church captains to educate fellow evangelicals on getting out to vote and the choice before them. "We're also targeting low propensity evangelical voters who may not be political, may not have voted in past election cycles, but we have teams on the ground across the battleground state that are focused on doing just that," Leavitt says. 

Also this week, the campaign announced a new Catholics for Trump Coalition. The folks in Trump world are fully aware that an all-hands-on-deck approach is needed as the country heads toward the fall election. The question will be whether evangelicals stick with Trump to once again be his saving grace.  

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