Some good analysis here from Jake Meador at Mere Orthodoxy. A taste:
This is the broader point: There were two theories about evangelical voters in this election. One theory said that if we abstained or voted third party we were taking ourselves out of the game and making ourselves irrelevant. But that has it all wrong. If evangelicals simply gave their votes away even after Trump purged life issues from the platform and offered them literally nothing except the fact that he isn’t a Democrat and they all went for him anyway that only makes them the cheapest date in politics.
Why should he, or any other Republican, listen to the demands of evangelical voters if they know they’ll get those votes no matter what and if by ignoring those demands they can expand their appeal into voter blocs they otherwise might not reach?
The other theory, of course, is that if you want a voice in politics you should actually make politicians earn your support instead of giving it away for nothing. After all, evangelicals can participate in civic life in a thousand ways regardless of how they vote. But when it comes to voting they should ask politicians to earn their support. This, I think, would have been the correct approach.
Read the entire piece here.
HT: John Haas