The role of religon in American regress

Kurt Andersen, author of Fantasyland, how America went Haywire, discusses how, in the last 30 years, religion has radicalized American politics and seriously harmed the perception of science. People often wonder has it is possible that such a truth denying and distorting and dangerous person as D0nald Trump has been able t0 win the presidency in a country. But how strange is that actually in a country were a majority of the population believes that evolution is not true and the existence of an afterlife is?