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How Trump’s White Evangelical Army Is Slowly Destroying Nikki Haley

Trump’s extraordinary level of support among white evangelical voters is his secret weapon against his one remaining primary rival—and it’s changing the GOP.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Trump at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference in 2023

With Nikki Haley set to mount a last stand of sorts in the South Carolina primary later this month, there’s a hidden reason that Donald Trump has been so dominant throughout the GOP nomination process: white evangelicals. Their support for Trump has held through impeachments, scandals, revelations about sexual assault, multiple serious criminal prosecutions, and even a coup attempt. We talked to Sarah Posner, a scholar of the religious right, about what explains Trump’s extraordinary hold on these voters—and why it’s changing the Republican Party in insidious, alarming ways.