Republicans now more likely to tolerate adultery by presidential candidates than Democrats
The turning point for both parties was 2016. Go figure. Equally unsurprising: Among four religious groups tracked (white mainline Protestants, white evangelicals, Catholics, and unaffiliateds),
the biggest shifts from 2016 to 2017 were among white evangelicals and unaffiliateds.
Unaffiliateds, a traditionally Democrat-leaning group, dropped 10 points (from 73 percent to 63) in their tolerance of adultery by presidential candidates.
White evangelicals,
a core Republican constituency, gained 10 points (from 43 percent to 53). White evangelicals are now more likely than white mainline Protestants to say that a candidate’s past extramarital affair
wouldn’t make a difference to their vote, 53 percent to 50.
On a closely related question, whether they’d be less likely to vote for a candidate who’d committed adultery in the past, mainline Protestants were once again more disapproving than evangelicals, 50 percent to 43.
That’s a “Trump effect” if ever there was one.
Exit question: According to this same survey,
just 73 percent of Americans say that a one-night stand “always” constitutes cheating on a partner while
just 76 percent say that regular intercourse with someone other than your partner “always” constitutes cheating. Uh, what?
http://hotair.com/archives/2017/04/13/everything-partisan-republicans-now-likely-tolerate-adultery-presidential-candidates-democrats/