A recent AP poll has revealed that while moral character has been a major focus of the 2024 election, most Americans would not describe either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump as particularly “Christian,” even amongst those who support them. The AP-NORC poll was conducted from September 12-14, with 2,028 adults nationwide responding. Overall, when asked what words described Harris and Trump, only 14 percent stated that “Christian” described either candidate “extremely well.” Fifty percent stated it described Harris “not very/ not well at all” while 63 percent stated the same about Donald Trump. Neither candidate fared very well either in being described as “moral,” “honest,” or “religious.” Fifteen percent of respondents stated moral described Trump “extremely well,” while over twice as many (33 percent) stated the word described Harris “extremely well.” Forty percent stated it did not describe Harris well at all while 66 percent stated the same for Trump.

Trump did best amongst white evangelical Protestants, with 69 percent viewing him favorably. Harris did best amongst black Protestants, with 75 percent viewing her favorably. White evangelical Protestants were also most likely to state that “Christian” described him as either “extremely” or “somewhat” well, with 55 percent doing so. Seventy-six percent of black Protestants stated the same for Harris, making them the highest group that viewed her as Christian.

Both candidates have identified as Christian, with Harris identifying as Baptist while Trump, who formerly identified as mainline Protestant, now identifying as a nondenominational Christian. Both have spoken about their faith, with Harris acknowledging her mother’s Hindu influence on her while also being married to a Jewish man. Many of her supporters have celebrated her religious diversity. “I don’t know that we’ve had another president who is this religiously diverse and who has had that kind of experience,” stated Nathan Finn, senior fellow on religious liberty with the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission on Harris’s religious background. For his part, Trump has courted evangelicals for years as part of his strongest support base. He has often spoken of surviving the attempt on his life in Butler, PA as a “miracle.” “The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle. I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead. I’m supposed to be dead,” he said soon after the incident.

R. Marie Griffith, a religion and politics professor at Washington University in St. Louis, stated the results of the poll show a shift in the way evangelicals are looking at faith in the public sector. “They really don’t care about, is [Trump] religious or not,” she stated. Griffith stated the low scores in morality and other personal traits displayed a growing cynicism towards politics. “I wonder if speaks to just a deep cynicism about politics – that people are really so convinced that all politicians are liars.”