Religion, by my estimation, was a more prominent issue in the runup to the 2020 election than in other recent presidential campaigns. This reflects two factors. First, President Donald Trump over the past four years has made a concerted effort to promote policies and programs designed specifically to increase support among White evangelical Christians. Second, Joe Biden is only the fourth Catholic major-party nominee in U.S. history (along with Al Smith in 1928, John F. Kennedy in 1960 and John Kerry in 2004), and Biden made his faith a significant part of his presidential campaign.
Did either of these factors make a difference in the election outcome? The answer to that question is complex. But — at this stage in our understanding of the dynamics of the 2020 election — I would say that if Trump’s or Biden’s campaign shifted the vote of these two core religious groups, the impact was fairly minimal and/or difficult to document. CONTINUED
Frank Newport, Gallup