In his address to Liberty University students on Jan. 18, Donald Trump pronounced over and over that if elected president, his administration was “going to protect Christianity.”

This was, of course, right before he botched the name of a book of the Bible.

That being said, as caucuses near, Republican candidates are reaching to new heights to gain not only individual voters, but large groups of voters, and are looking towards religious, particularly evangelical, sects and denominations, as exemplified by Trump’s address.

Many have called Trump’s bluff on his attempt to attract religious voters, yet he continues to gain support among many Christian groups.

On Jan. 26, CNN reported evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. decided to publicly endorse Donald Trump, saying he is “a man who… can lead our country to greatness again.”

As much attention as the religious vote is receiving in this election cycle, can Trump continue to strengthen his hold on evangelical voters?

Travis Ridout, a professor in the WSU School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, spoke about the role religion has played in past elections. “In 1980, Reagan’s campaign recognized (the religious vote) as kind of an important swing vote, and so they started making appeals to that block of voters, and since that time, those voters have come to really identify more with the Republican Party,” Ridout said.

With as much criticism as there is facing Trump, he seems to at the very least know what he’s doing in terms of reaching out to Christians. His sustainability and ability to keep votes among this group, however, can potentially be challenged.

“All evidence suggests Donald Trump is very far removed from the religious right, has never been a part of the movement, doesn’t speak their language… Trump is not about issues, really, Trump is about style, and he’s got a style that appeals to a lot of people,” Ridout added.

Trump is not the only Republican candidate targeting the religious right; Dr. Ben Carson is incredibly open about his faith and, even in debates, is not afraid to make it known that his religion plays a huge role in his candidacy.

He is one of many candidates who has and plans to continue to visit and speak at churches along his campaign trail.

An article by Tim Funk published in the Charlotte Observer essentially said it is unfair to group all Christian denominations and sects into one group, claiming it may seem like one candidate or another is simply winning over a group that is more vocal about their support. ”Think of the groups as teams and the primaries as playoff games, complete with media hoopla and aggressive hits on the field,” Funk writes.

It is very likely that the religious vote is scattered all over the board. It would be nice to see that if candidates are going to target religious sects, they would at least be informed and go in with knowledge of the group they are addressing.