Harris, Trump go light on religion in '24 campaign

By Axios | Created at 2024-09-23 08:35:22 | Updated at 2024-09-30 07:23:53 6 days ago

The race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is the first presidential election in half a century in which neither candidate is openly telling voters much about their religion or faith.

Why it matters: The lack of emphasis on religion comes as the percentage of Americans identifying as "religiously unaffiliated" has skyrocketed to 27% — a larger share of the population than mainline Protestants and evangelical white voters combined.

The big picture: Since 1976, speaking about their religious faith has been a virtual prerequisite for those seeking the nation's highest office.

That year Jimmy Carter — a devout Southern Baptist running for president in the first election since Watergate — explained his religious faith in an interview with Playboy magazine. He promised never to lie.

Few candidates have wrapped themselves in religion as much as Carter. Several have been more like Carter's opponent, President Gerald Ford, whose campaign was fond of saying, "Jimmy Carter wears his religion on his sleeve but Jerry Ford wears it in his heart."

Establishing religious credentials has been a constant in presidential campaigns.
Ronald Reagan prayed during his 1980 acceptance speech at the Republican convention. In 1992, Bill Clinton spoke of learning about Jesus in a preschool program. And before the 2000 election, George W. Bush professed that Jesus Christ "changed my heart."

Zoom in: Trump is supported strongly by white evangelicals but rarely mentions any religious experiences or beliefs — beyond suggesting last month that God may have saved him from an assassin's bullet.

He often bungles or misidentifies passages from the Bible, though he does sell Bibles. He's also said he doesn't think he's ever asked God for forgiveness.
Trump's described himself as Presbyterian and has been photographed with his eyes closed as evangelicals prayed over him.
The vast majority of his religious references involve trying to motivate his Christian nationalist base to oppose "the radical left."

Harris said in a 2015 Los Angeles Times interview that she grew up attending a Black Baptist church and a Hindu temple. But in public appearances, she rarely shares any details about her religious beliefs.

In her speech at the Democratic convention, Harris said her family and Northern California community taught her about "faith." She's mentioned admiring the Black Christian leaders behind the Civil Rights Movement.
Her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is Jewish. He said during his DNC speech that Harris "connected me more deeply to my faith, even though it's not the same as hers."

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, tells Axios this is the first presidential election in his lifetime in which faith isn't a key part of a candidate's backstory.

"You usually hear a faith component. But take the debate (between Harris and Trump). God wasn't mentioned once," Rodriguez said.

Between the lines: Candidates felt compelled to talk about their religious faith after the rise of the Christian Right in the 1970s, Melissa Deckman, CEO of the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), tells Axios.

"But I think this election is different. Trump has that unique bond with conservative Christians that still defies logic sometimes, but literally, it's transactional."
Deckman says Harris, on the other hand, is in a mixed-faith marriage that embodies a religious pluralism that many Americans recognize and relate to.

Yes, but: Rev. Carlos L. Malavé, president of the Latino Christian National Network, tells Axios that in small, intimate settings, Harris has talked about how the Social Gospel — applying Christian ethics to social justice — has shaped her worldview.

"She comes through as a person of deep faith," Malavé said.
Rodriguez says he's been in small gatherings with Trump where he had "a great acceptance of prayer."

The intrigue: In her 2019 memoir "The Truths We Hold," Harris wrote that her earliest memories of the Bible's teachings "were of a loving God, a God who asked us to 'speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.' "