Surveys of early voters and exits polls reveal that religious voters for Biden may have played a bigger role in Trump’s loss.

Biden had a groundswell of religious support, which came as a surprise to the Trump campaign, his top aides, and religious allies.

It appears that the president-elect’s approach to religion made a critical difference in key battleground states.

Much of this was due to his campaign’s persistent and strategic way related to faith, the New York Times reports.

What may have helped Biden stand out to religious voters is that faith was a central part of his persona. He wore his faith on his sleeve and connected faith to his family, his decision-making, and loss.

Biden was candid about his faith and how it’s helped shape him.  

Much of Biden’s support with white evangelicals and Catholic voters had been dismissed as a polling fluke, Politico reports. They thought it was another media-spun narrative intended to scare Trump and his top donors.

Many conservative Christian groups supported Trump, and policy priorities and judicial nominees appeared to show more substantial religious support for Trump over Biden to some.

Yet, surveys of early voters and exits polls reveal that religious voters for Biden may have played a role in Trump’s loss.

Between 47 percent and 50 percent of Catholic voters supported Trump, a small decline from 2016 but enough to cost him the Rust Belt states that were so important to his path to victory, Politico reports.

Additionally, the president carried white Catholics by a 15-point margin nationally according to AP/VoteCast data reports. This is a significant decline from Trump’s 33-point margin of victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

In 2016, Trump won support from about 8 in 10 white evangelicals, but surveys showed a slight decrease in the 2020 election, though the slippage was less pronounced.

Surveys show him carrying 76 to 78 percent of the white, born-again Christian vote, which is slightly down from 2016. While this may seem small, it had bigger implications for the president in states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, key battleground states that show Trump losing by less than 1 percent.

Did Biden’s approach to religion influence your vote?