“Unlike a lot of previous nominees who sort of backed away and kept those voters and their issues at arm’s length during the general election, he embraced them and pulled them close and he was richly rewarded,” Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, told Fox News.
It may seem an unlikely marriage for a candidate who’s been twice divorced and often criticized for vulgar banter. But Trump’s success may be less about emulating conservative Christians than convincing them he’s uniquely qualified to implement their agenda.
“They were never under any illusions that Donald Trump was one of them,” said Reed. “And, by the way, they never asked him to be. All they asked was that he shared their issues agenda and that he would fight for it. … He persuaded them on both of those points.”
Carol Swayze, an evangelical Christian from suburban Atlanta, said: “Nobody thinks he’s a saint and we’re not voting for the pastor in chief.”
