Not a lot of pastors are preaching politics from the pulpit—at least, they're not making out-and-out endorsements. But those who are are more inclined to support Hillary Clinton, a new Pew survey finds. That doesn't mean they're not talking about the issues: 64 percent of respondents said their clergy had talked about at least one of six social or political issues in the last few months. But, as The New York Times reports, specific endorsements are rare.
About as many churchgoers—one in 10—reported that they had heard clergy members speak against a presidential candidate as in support of one. But once again, Mr. Trump was the loser in this contest. Seven percent of churchgoers said they had heard anti-Trump talk from their clergy members in recent months, while 4 percent said they had heard anti-Clinton speech.
Despite another recent poll from Pew that found overwhelming support for Mr. Trump among white evangelical Christians, few evangelicals have been hearing such enthusiasm from the pulpit. Only 2 percent of white evangelicals said they had heard members of their clergy voice support for Mr. Trump, while 3 percent said they had heard members of their clergy speak against him. (However, when it came to Mrs. Clinton, only 1 percent of white evangelicals said members of their clergy had spoken in her favor, and 4 percent in opposition).
Tellingly, this survey was conducted before the conventions, and before Trump's attacks on the family of Humayun Khan. Since then his feud with the family of the fallen war hero has dominated news—and probably hasn't done anything to help Trump in the eyes of true Christians.