White evangelicals continue to stand out in their support for Trump

Roughly three months into President Donald Trump’s second term, White evangelical Protestants continue to be among his strongest supporters:

• 72% approve of the way Trump is currently handling his job as president.
• 69% rate the ethics of top Trump administration officials as excellent or good.
• 57% say they trust what Trump says more than what previous presidents said.

Here’s a closer look at how White evangelicals and other major U.S. religious groups view the second Trump administration, based on a Pew Research Center survey of 3,589 U.S. adults conducted April 7-13, 2025.

How we did this

Pew Research Center conducted this survey to understand how U.S. religious groups view President Donald Trump and the recent actions his administration has taken on key issues.

For this analysis, we surveyed 3,589 adults from April 7 to April 13, 2025. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Interviews were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other factors. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.

Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses; sample size information for religious groups; and the survey methodology.

Approval of Trump

Most White evangelicals (72%) say they approve of how Trump is handling his job as president. White nonevangelical Protestants and White Catholics are much more divided, with 51% in each group approving of the job Trump is doing.

By contrast, majorities of Black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics and religiously unaffiliated adults – people who describe themselves, religiously, as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – say they disapprove of how Trump is handling his presidency.

These religious patterns largely reflect partisan differences. White evangelicals overwhelmingly identify as or lean Republican, as do smaller majorities of White nonevangelical Protestants and White Catholics. By contrast, most Black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics and religiously unaffiliated adults are Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents.

Related: Evaluations of Trump: Job approval and confidence on issues

Among Americans overall, Trump’s job approval rating is down 7 percentage points since February. There have been similar declines among individual religious groups, including:

• A 6-point drop among White evangelicals (from 78% to 72%)
• An 8-point drop among Black Protestants (from 18% to 10%)
• An 8-point drop among White Catholics (from 59% to 51%)
• A 7-point drop among religiously unaffiliated Americans (from 33% to 26%)

Both among the U.S. public as a whole and among major religious groups, Trump’s current approval ratings are on par with what they were around the same time in his first term (April 2017).

The ethics of Trump administration officials

Around seven-in-ten White evangelicals rate the ethics of top Trump administration officials as good (35%) or excellent (34%). By contrast, among the public overall, most (62%) rate the ethics of the Trump administration as only fair or poor.

White Catholics are split in their views of the ethical standards of Trump’s top officials: Half rate them as excellent or good, while half rate them as only fair or poor. And White nonevangelical Protestants lean slightly toward ratings of only fair or poor (57% say this).

Clear majorities of Black Protestants (88%), religiously unaffiliated adults (76%) and Hispanic Catholics (72%) say the ethical standards of top Trump administration officials are only fair or poor.

Related: Trump and Biden officials’ ethical standards

Trust in what Trump says

In addition to approving of Trump’s job, 57% of White evangelical Protestants say they trust what he says more than what previous presidents said while in office. An additional 23% say they trust Trump’s words about the same as those of previous presidents, while 19% say they have less trust in what Trump says.

White nonevangelical Protestants and White Catholics are roughly split on trust in Trump’s words. About four-in-ten in each group say they trust Trump more than previous presidents, while roughly the same share say they trust him less. About two-in-ten in these groups say they trust Trump’s words about the same as those of previous presidents.

Majorities of Black Protestants (65%) and religiously unaffiliated adults (64%) say they trust what Trump says less than what previous presidents said in office.

Support for the Trump administration’s various actions

Religious groups’ views of key actions by the new administration generally track their views of how Trump is handling his job as president.

Three-quarters of White evangelicals approve of Trump’s actions to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the federal government. The same share approve of Trump’s cuts to federal departments and agencies. And two-thirds of White evangelicals support substantially increased tariffs.

By comparison, about half or slightly more of White nonevangelical Protestants and White Catholics say they approve of the Trump administration’s actions on all these issues.

Majorities of Black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics and religiously unaffiliated adults disapprove of these actions by the Trump administration.

Views on Trump’s use of executive orders

When thinking about Trump’s use of executive orders, majorities of Black Protestants (70%) and religiously unaffiliated adults (62%) say Trump is doing too much.

This is also the most common view among Hispanic Catholics (58%), White nonevangelical Protestants (48%) and White Catholics (46%).

Among White evangelicals, far fewer (27%) take this view. The most common view among this group is that Trump is doing about the right amount by executive order (53%).

As is the case on other questions in this analysis, views on this question closely follow party lines.

Note: Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses; sample size information for religious groups; and the survey methodology.