I think many people are confused by this. I’ll try to explain. For conservative evangelicals, a person’s religiosity as such, or sincere lived belief, are not virtues. ONLY belief in the *right list of things* (about God, the Bible, humanity, society, governance) garners respect. https://twitter.com/notstevenwhite/status/1291449031634411521

This is why it doesn’t matter if Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School, or if Hillary Clinton was a regular churchgoer, or if Joe Biden is a devout Catholic. If they articulate beliefs that are on the “Wrong” list, then they are not in the in-group.

This is not even to mention that, to some evangelicals, Catholics are by-definition not real Christians. This attitude has expanded among many to include “mainline” denominations like Methodists, Lutherans, and Episcopalians, too. Not fundamentalist enough? Not real Christians.

I’m not saying every Evangelical Christian thinks this way, but it is certainly the world in which I was brought up.
In that world, real Christians are anti-abortion, pro-death penalty, anti-welfare, anti-public schools, anti-union, and anti-gay.

Importantly, they believe that these political positions are *necessarily inferred* from their religious beliefs, which is why they can tell that anyone who disagrees w/ them on these political issues *must* hold the wrong religious beliefs.

Joe Biden’s Catholicism could help him with Catholics, but it won’t budge the Evangelicals. The only time they might make common cause with a Catholic would be against someone even more outsider, like a Mormon.

While some evangelical Christians are uncomfortable with Trump’s divorces, crude language, and flip-flopping on abortion, they appreciate his nomination of conservative judges. Then ther is the Cyrus narrative: https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/5/16796892/trump-cyrus-christian-right-bible-cbn-evangelical-propaganda

It is hard to break into a base of support that believes that God has sent them a champion (though flawed - like David! Like Paul!) to wipe out all the gains they believe liberals have made in the culture wars over the last 40 years.

As @DrTedJ points out, what I’m talking about here is *white* evangelicals. Black evangelical churches, while still generally more socially conservative than the average Black voter, have a very different political profile than the one I articulated. https://twitter.com/drtedj/status/1291490976545079296?s=21 https://twitter.com/drtedj/status/1291490976545079296