Some 76 per cent of US white evangelicals are in favour of Donald Trump's controversial travel ban, new surveys suggest.
Polling studies by the Pew Research Centre suggest that while most Americans disapprove of President Trump's executive order banning refugees from several Muslim majority countries, three quarters of white evangelical protestants (74 per cent) support then ban.
In sharp contrast, the majority of black Protestants (84 per cent) disapprove of the ban, alongside most Catholics (62 per cent).
Trump's executive order banned any immigrants travelling from seven majority Muslim countries to the US. It has been a source of intense criticism abroad and at home, and has been caught in legal turmoil after being blocked by federal judges. Some 89 per cent of Democrats oppose the ban, while most Republicans (81 per cent) support it.
Most of the religiously unaffiliated, also known as 'nones', oppose the executive order (74 per cent).
The study also showed that three-quarters of white evangelical protestants are 'very concerned' about Islamic extremism across the world, and 69 per cent said they were 'very concerned' about radical Islam in the US.
Only 32 per cent of religious 'nones' said they were concerned about Islamic extremism abroad, and just 27 per cent were concerned about the threat in the US.
Fifty-one per cent of white evangelicals said that there was a 'great deal' or 'fair amount' of support for extremism among US Muslims.
The support for Trump's order from white evangelicals is in line with the group's traditional conservative affiliation. Donald Trump won the presidency with the overwhelming support (81 per cent) of white evangelicals.
