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(RNS) — Ralph Reed, head of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, has worked for decades to get conservative evangelical Christians to the polls. Widely known as a key architect of what is sometimes called the Religious Right, the Georgia-based activist and his organization have expended enormous resources to hone what has become the Republican Party’s core voting bloc — and a crucial player in President Donald Trump’s rise to power.

But earlier this month, as Reed drove to a Trump rally in Dalton, Georgia, where his group planned to recruit volunteers to help with voter turnout in the upcoming midterm elections, he acknowledged that getting conservative Christians to vote this year — when the president’s approval rating has hit historic lows — has been challenging.

“We’re hearing what you would expect to hear, which is concerns about cost of living, concerns about gas prices,” Reed told Religion News Service in a phone interview,…