Trump Triumphs, Red Wave And Abortion: What We Learned From Faith Voters
Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris and returning to the White House for the second time following his unexpected victory in 2016.
Defying both the odds and the polls, Trump, 78, garnered a remarkable victory and was on course for an Electoral College landslide to capture the White House again. He was also winning the popular vote, unlike in 2016.
The win also marked an unlikely political comeback for Trump, a convicted felon who was twice impeached and largely left disgraced following the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
Running now through Dec. 31, NewsMatch will match your donations up to $1,000. Your generosity will help keep Religion Unplugged going in 2025 and beyond. You can donate here.
“We’re going to help our country heal. We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly,” Trump told a jubilant crowd that greeted the president-elect with chants of “USA! USA!” at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
Trump added that his presidency will result in “a truly Golden Age for America” as a result of the “powerful mandate” given to him by voters.
Trump won all seven battleground states — including Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia — to capture the White House.
Like in many Western democracies, the United States now moves to the right with Trump’s brand of populism. Here are five things we learned from Tuesday’s vote:
Trump wins big with Catholics
For many faith voters, the presidential contest between Trump and Harris was more than just a race for the White House. For many, it was a battle between two ideologies, the latest in the decades-old culture war, attached to issues such as abortion and transgender athletes playing in women’s sports.
Exit polls conducted by NBC News from 10 key battleground states revealed that Trump did very well overall with voters who identified as Protestant (62%) and Catholic (56%).
In his remarks, Trump — referring to two assassination attempts on his life this year — said, “Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason — and that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness, and now we are going to fulfill that mission together. We’re going to fulfill that.”
According to The Washington Post’s exit polling, Trump won the national Catholic vote — a bloc that includes Hispanics — by a staggering 15-point margin: 56% to 41%.
Trump, once again, did extremely well for a third straight election cycle with white evangelicals (81%) and white Catholics (60%), according to NBC News exit poll data.
Meanwhile, NBC reported that Harris did better with Jewish voters (77%), those who identified as “something else” (60%) and nones (71%).
GOP regain the Senate, possibly even the House
The makeup of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives was also on the line in this election.
Senate Republicans picked up a seat in West Virginia, winning an expected victory that put them just one seat away from seizing control of the chamber after four years, and another in Ohio.
Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia easily won the slot that opened up following the retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin, who served most of his career as a Democrat before becoming an independent earlier this year. In Ohio, Republican businessman Bernie Moreno defeated incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown, chair of the Senate Banking Committee.
As a result, the GOP will have at least a 51-seat majority, although six races were yet to be decided. Republicans could win up to 55 seats by the time the counting ends.
In the House, the GOP entered the night with a narrow 220-212 edge. It remained too close to call which party would win a majority, although overnight returns showed the GOP winning more seats.
“As more results come in it is clear that, as we have predicted all along, Republicans are poised to have unified government in the White House, Senate and House,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.
Florida abortion measure fails
One of the biggest issues of this campaign season (other than the economy and illegal immigration) was abortion. In fact, 11 abortion-related measures – a record high in a single election year – were on the ballot.
Ten would provide for state constitutional rights to abortion: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Nevada and South Dakota. One, in Nebraska, would limit the timeframe for when an abortion would be performed.
Overall, seven out of 10 referendums were approved in favor of expanding abortion access.
However, in Florida, a state Trump won, voters rejected creating a constitutional right to abortion, a political win for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, that will keep in place the state’s ban on most abortions after the first six weeks. The measure failed to clear the 60% threshold needed to pass.
It marked the first time abortion opponents won a ballot measure in any state since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, a decision that ended nationwide abortion protections.
The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops said it was “profoundly relieved at the defeat of Florida’s pro-abortion Amendment 4.”
“This is a positive outcome for Florida and all efforts to promote the flourishing of our state,” the bishops added.
Among other notable results, Maryland became the first state on Tuesday to adopt an abortion rights amendment – a legal change that won’t have an immediate difference to abortion access in a state that already allows it.
A New York measure — one that abortion rights groups argued will bolster access — also passed. The law did not contain the word “abortion.” Instead, it bans discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”
While abortion motivated many women to vote, creating a gender gap, Trump won nonetheless thanks to what many called the “bro vote” — a coalition of men across all racial groups — to put him over the top.
Vote against school choice
This issue of school choice, which resonates with many faith voters, was on the ballot in three states.
In Colorado, Amendment 80 would provide in the state constitution that “each K-12 child has the right to school choice.” Kentucky’s Amendment 2 would allow the legislature to provide state funding to students outside of public schools.
In Nebraska, a veto referendum seeks to overturn a bill authorizing a program to provide public grants to eligible students to attend private schools.
Voters in Colorado and Kentucky voted against school choice and funding, respectively. In Nebraska, voters chose to repeal and eliminate the funding.
Jews split on Israel-Hamas war
The Oct. 7 terror attacks, the war that followed and year-long campus protests made the ongoing tensions in the Middle East a campaign issue for voters concerned about foreign policy and the rise of antisemitism.
Exit polls revealed that Republicans and Democrats were divided on the issue. Asked whether U.S. support for Israel was “too strong,” 68% of Democrats agreed. Only 29% of GOP voters felt the same way.
Harris, in an appeal to Muslim-American voters, vowed to end the war in Gaza with a ceasefire. Trump has said he supports Israel’s right to defend itself and that the war would have never happened had he been in the White House.
The NBC News exit poll found that 21% of Jews voted for Trump — down from the 30% he garnered in 2020 and 24% in 2016.
Jews, as a voting bloc, have traditionally been a part of the Democratic Party coalition. The only exception has been among Orthodox Jews, who have come out for Trump and other GOP candidates.
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged. He previously served as deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and a longtime reporter at The New York Post. Follow him on X @ClementeLisi.