Stretching back to the Moral Majority movement, there has been staunch historical support for the Republican Party by white, born-again Christians. In our home state of Kentucky, 49% of adults self-identify as evangelical and on the national level, a quarter of the electorate in 2016 identified as a white evangelical. The 2016 Presidential election brought the dependability of this voting bloc into question, revealing a divide among national evangelical leaders regarding the Trump candidacy. From botched Bible verses to leaked video of lewd comments about women, evangelicals had to weigh Trump’s morality and Christian commitment against his presidential platform. Our project explores whether the rift seen at the national level extended deeper to local levels of church leadership. Our methodology included online surveys sent to pastors in the Southeastern Kentucky and Northeastern Tennessee regions, and also face-to-face interviews with selected religious leaders. The divide seen among national leaders was mirrored on the local level of leadership, even while rank-and-file evangelicals continued to vote in high numbers for the Republican candidate. We also observed that clear patterns emerged in the way that local leaders make their political decisions.
