Evangelicals have been “amazing” to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

At least that’s what he said in March in Denver at the Western Conservative Summit, a massive political event held annually by Colorado Christian University’s Centennial Institute.

That doesn’t mean evangelicals are flocking to back his campaign, however.

For the many voters driven by their Christian faith in El Paso County, casting a vote for president in November will not be an easy task.

“I want to move to Costa Rica. Seriously,” said Tim O’Donnell, speaking as a voter who also is a leader at the 2,000-member Village Seven Presbyterian Church. “All of the evangelicals that I know … almost everyone with a few exceptions are saying the same thing, ‘I don’t want to vote for either one.'”

O’Donnell, who is 64 and active in politics and policy in Colorado Springs, said if the election were tomorrow he would leave the presidential race blank on his ballot.

If that attitude prevails in November, Trump could find himself hurting for votes in the Sun and Bible Belt states.

Evangelical voters are a cornerstone of the Republican Party.

There is good news for Trump, though. A Pew Research Center survey in mid-June found that despite misgivings, 36 percent of self-identified white evangelicals strongly supported Trump. (That’s more than Mitt Romney had at this point in the 2012 presidential campaign.) Another 39 percent supported Trump, but “not strongly.” The survey was of 1,655 registered voters.

So why the vocal consternation from the religious voting block if they strongly support the Republican candidate?

By definition, evangelical Christians allow their faith to guide their lives in all aspects – work, family, politics.

The multi-millionaire doesn’t exude Christian values on the campaign trail, calling people names, insulting people and seemingly provoking anger toward his main opponent and her supporters. His three marriages also are a concern to some.

“The Republican Party is reliant on evangelicals as part of its coalition to win,” said Jeff Hunt, director of the Centennial Institute. “If we don’t get out there and vote it is going to hand victory to Hillary Clinton.”

Hunt has endorsed Trump and is urging others to do the same.

“I like the fact that evangelicals wrestle with Trump. I think it’s a very good sign that we take character very seriously and we don’t just fall in line quickly,” Hunt said.

But he said Trump has made clear advances to indicate his appeal to evangelical voters. Hunt noted Trump’s pick of Christian conservative Mike Pence as a running mate, and the list of potential nominees for the Supreme Court that appeal to voters who hope legal precedent will restrict access to abortions and uphold religious freedoms particularly when it comes into conflict with same-sex marriage.

Rachel Schipper doesn’t want Clinton to win. But she is less than thrilled about Trump.

“It’s offensive to me how he says things so offhandedly,” she said. “It offends my sensibilities. At the end of the day I’m pretty sure I’ll put my mark by Trump but along the way it’s hard to swallow the things he’s said.”

Schipper, who attends Village Seven Presbyterian Church, said she has given a lot of thought to Trump’s actions and his proposed policies.

She points to an article on the Acton Institute PowerBlog that she said perfectly sums up her Trump dilemma.

“I think the disconnect is that most evangelical voters are driven by policy and principle,” she said. “The article contends that Trump is more about making deals than about policy and principle.”

Many evangelical pastors from El Paso County declined to be interviewed for this story, citing the tax-code prohibition against nonprofit U.S. religious organizations endorsing political candidates.

Mark Cowart, senior pastor at Church for All Nations, openly flaunts that law and challenges the Internal Revenue Service to come after him for preaching politics from the pulpit.

Cowart has endorsed Trump.

Ironically, it’s Trump’s vocal opposition to the Johnson Amendment, the 1954 change in the tax code that prohibits tax-exempt organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates, that most attracts the Colorado Springs megachurch leader to the presidential nominee.

Trump has vowed multiple times to repeal the Johnson Amendment and Cowart said he is elated.

“That has been very dear to my heart,” said Cowart, who has led the roughly 2,000-member congregation for almost two decades.

The Pew Research Center says a large number of religious leaders back Trump.

Even James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, has rallied behind Trump, according to a New York Times story about Trump’s late-June meeting with pastors in New York.

“You got to cut him some slack,” Dobson was quoted by the New York Times as saying in the meeting. “He didn’t grow up like we did.”

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Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644

Twitter: @CapitolSchrader

“Already under fire for lying to the American people about her illegal email server, Clinton is continuing to align herself with an Administration that has continually lied to Americans as well,” said Donald Trump’s campaign. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)