Politics from the Pulpit: A Content Analysis of High-Profile Religious Elite in American Politics

The relationship between evangelical Christianity and politics surged in the 1980s and intensified with each election cycle. In June 2016, Donald Trump met with a delegation of 1,000 evangelical leaders. Shortly thereafter, Trump released a list of his born again advisory panel, reflecting the broad reach of evangelical Christianity in America. Invoking the Word of God is a powerful rhetorical device accessible to the religious elite and not often utilized by other political actors. The literature on framing by high-profile religious elites in politics is scarce. A reflexive thematic analysis of tweets from Trumps advisory panel (as well as a control group of high-profile evangelical elites <em>not</em> on Trumps advisory panel) will evaluate which issues are most frequently mentioned and how elites discuss them concerning Trumps executive communications. An inductive analysis of these tweets will measure the effects of framing on their followers through social media interactions. These results illustrate how religious leaders increasingly influence current discussions and debates about key messages and their impact on followers.