White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has told the Christian Broadcasting Network that God 'wanted Donald Trump to be president' of the US.

Sanders, who has vigorously defended Trump against his critics, said in an interview broadcast yesterday: 'I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president.'

She added: 'I think he has done a tremendous job in supporting a lot of the things that people of faith really care about.'

She also assured CBN of Trump's commitment to protecting Kurdish Christians following his announcement that he would withdraw the US military from Syria.

'Look, the President's made clear that we support Christians, that we support the Kurds,' she said.

The wide-ranging interview also covered immigration, antisemitism, the morality of a border wall and other topics.

On her personal faith, she said: 'The goal is to be the best version of who God created us and who he called us to be. Some days I do that better than others, but the goal is always to be open about my faith.

'I think it's part of the reason it gives me a sense of calm when I'm in that room.'

Sanders said evangelicals were 'sticking with' Trump because he had delivered on the things they regarded as important.

'I would argue he's the most conservative president that we've ever had,. she said. 'You look at the judicial nominations alone – I think that will be one of the greatest legacies that the president has after his eight years in office is how he has completely remade the judiciary and started to stop this activist court that we've started to see over the last eight years. There's a reason evangelicals are sticking with the president, and that's because he's delivered on all the things he said he would do.'

Trump is facing re-election in 2020. A poll yesterday found that 56 per cent of voters said they would definitely vote against him, compared with only 28 per cent who said they would definitely vote for him.