Support for Israel has vaulted near the top of the list of issues of concern for evangelical voters ahead of this year’s election, the founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition said Wednesday.
Ralph Reed told the Washington Post in an interview that backing the Jewish state in its war on Hamas may be as critical as issues of abortion and reproductive freedom in deciding who staunch Christians back for president.
“I think I’m being charitable if I say that Joe Biden at times vacillated in his initial full-throated support of Israel in this conflict,” Reed said.
“I think that’s really important to us and in fact, I believe that today, I believe in today’s evangelical, pro-family movement, I think Israel rivals the life issue in their hierarchy of concerns.”
However, remaining pro-life is still the key for evangelicals to support former President Donald Trump, Reed emphasized.
“I would encourage the Trump campaign to proceed in great caution in sending any message of vacillation or retreat when it comes to the defense of the innocent unborn,” he argued.
“If the Republican Party wants to continue to enjoy the fervent and the enthusiastic and the robust support of conservative, orthodox people of faith, that needs to continue to be the position of this party.”
The 45th president heavily courted Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition during the 2024 primary, as other GOP candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis advertised themselves themselves as more pro-life than Trump.
In his appeal, Trump has stressed that he was responsible for nominating three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, arguing “no president has ever fought for Christians as hard as I have” during an appearance at the group’s annual conference in June 2023.
White evangelical voters have largely voted Republican in recent presidential elections, and in a matchup between Trump and President Biden, 81% said they would vote for the former, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in April.
Trump has enjoyed great success with the voting bloc in his two prior runs for president, winning 77% of evangelicals in 2016 and 84% in 2020, per Pew.
Voters nationwide routinely rank the economy as their top issue in this election, followed by either immigration or the state of US democracy.
An ABC News/ Ipsos poll conducted in April indicated that American popular support for Israel had dwindled in recent months, with 38% of respondents saying US “is doing too much” for the Jewish state, up from 31% who said the same in January.
In the same poll, 37% of respondents said they trusted Trump more to handle the Middle East war, while 29% said they trusted Biden more on the issue.
The Faith and Freedom Coalition, which claims to have the largest GOP voter outreach program outside the Republican National Committee, has said it intends to spend $62 million on door-knocking, phone banking and turning out evangelical supporters in November.