Which evangelical leaders or organizations publicly abandoned endorsement of Donald Trump after 2020?
Executive summary
A modest but consequential cohort of 2020-2025">evangelical leaders publicly withdrew or withheld their endorsement of Donald Trump after 2020, driven by moral objections to his conduct, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and policy disputes such as immigration; prominent names cited in coverage include Russell Moore, Mark Galli and a handful of other clergy who broke with the pro‑Trump consensus [1] [2]. Broader signs of erosion—large numbers of clergy endorsing Biden in 2020, arresting faith leaders protesting Trump immigration policy, and polls showing slipping evangelical pastor support—suggest the shift is real but neither uniform nor decisive across the movement [3] [4] [5].
1. Who publicly broke with Trump: the names that recur in reporting
Reporting repeatedly identifies Russell Moore—formerly a senior Southern Baptist official—as a prominent evangelical who fell out with pro‑Trump evangelical leadership after criticizing Christian nationalism and Trump’s behavior, and who publicly urged Trump to concede after Jan. 6 [2] [1]. Media roundups and opinion pieces also single out Mark Galli, the former editor of Christianity Today, and public intellectuals such as David French among “the few evangelicals who stood up to Trump” and withdrew public support on ethical grounds [1]. Coverage of clergy endorsements in 2020 further highlights Ronald Sider and other faith leaders who declined the evangelical bloc’s monolithic backing and instead backed Biden, demonstrating that a subset of evangelical figures had already abandoned Trump‑style loyalty before 2021 [3].
2. Institutional withdrawals and collective statements
The most visible institutional expressions of distance were not always formal withdrawals of an “endorsement” but collective actions and public endorsements for Biden: more than 1,600 clergy from various Christian traditions publicly backed Joe Biden in 2020, a phenomenon reporters cited as evidence that some faith leaders had abandoned Trump’s candidacy en masse [3]. Other institutional cues—faith leaders arrested protesting Trump administration immigration policies and calling for restrictions on ICE—illustrate organized, public opposition to Trump administration actions among religious leaders [4].
3. Why they broke: moral language, Christian nationalism and specific policies
Evangelical critics framed their distancing in moral and theological terms: the Jan. 6 Capitol violence, concerns about Trump‑aligned Christian nationalism, and perceived moral failings—ranging from rhetoric about women to alliances with extremists—were repeatedly given as reasons for public repudiation [1] [6]. Immigration policies and enforcement actions also drove protest and public condemnation from clergy who saw those policies as incompatible with their religious convictions [4]. Mainline outlets and commentators emphasized this moral framing in explaining why a minority of evangelical leaders chose to speak out [7] [8].
4. The fence‑sitters, the quiet deserters and countervailing forces
Coverage also documents a larger middle: leaders who withheld explicit endorsement without actively opposing Trump, and many congregations where speaking out risked schisms. Prominent figures such as Robert Jeffress were reported as “holding off” on an endorsement while reserving the option to support Trump if he became the nominee, showing that public abandonment was not monolithic even among influential pastors [9]. Polling and analysis suggest evangelical pastor support has softened since 2020 but remained substantial—signaling quiet defections rather than wholesale institutional abandonment [5] [2].
5. What this means going forward and the reporting gaps
The documented departures—named leaders who publicly repudiated Trump, large numbers of clergy backing his opponent in 2020, arrests of faith leaders protesting his policies, and polling showing erosion—combine to show a fracturing evangelical landscape in which principled dissent exists but is a minority phenomenon [3] [4] [1] [5]. Reporting limitations: available sources identify individuals and collective endorsements and note broader trends, but do not provide a comprehensive, definitive roster of every evangelical leader or organization that abandoned endorsement after 2020; further investigative work would be required to compile an exhaustive list across denominations and local networks [8] [10].