Evangelical support for Trump remained strong even after attack on Capitol

Faith leaders pray over Trump at the launch of his "Evangelicals for Trump" coalition.(Photo: Miami Herald)

Evangelicals were a key support group for Donald Trump throughout his presidency and remained largely faithful to the end, new stats from the Public Religion Research Institute show.

In a poll of 1,019 American adults between January 15 and 18, well over half (62%) of white evangelical Protestants held favourable views of the former president, far higher than any other religious affiliation. 

Support for Trump actually grew between November and January among white mainline Protestants, from 34% to 41%, but fell in the same period among Catholics, from 51% to 39%. 

Christians of colour and the religiously unaffiliated had the lowest approval rating of Trump, at 19% each. 

It was a rocky departure for Trump from the White House, after some of his supporters stormed the Capitol, leading to his impeachment for the second time. 

He left office on January 20 with only 31% of all Americans holding a favourable view of him - his lowest favourability ratings since the summer of 2016.

By contrast, Joe Biden was sworn in on the same day with a majority of Americans (55%) viewing him favourably. 

Broken down by religious affiliation, non-white Protestants (68%) and religiously unaffiliated Americans (63%) were most supportive of the new president. 

Only one in five evangelicals said they had a favourable view of Biden.