diff --git a/git/config.py b/git/config.py
index 2df99a753..1d58db53a 100644
--- a/git/config.py
+++ b/git/config.py
@@ -509,7 +509,7 @@ def string_decode(v: str) -> str:
                         is_multi_line = True
                         optval = string_decode(optval[1:])
                     elif len(optval) > 1 and optval[0] == '"' and optval[-1] == '"':
-                        optval = optval[1:-1].strip()
+                        optval = optval[1:-1]
                     # END handle multi-line
                     # Preserves multiple values for duplicate optnames.
                     cursect.add(optname, optval)
diff --git a/test/fixtures/git_config_with_quotes_whitespace b/test/fixtures/git_config_with_quotes_whitespace
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c6014cc61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/git_config_with_quotes_whitespace
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[core]
+  commentString = "# "
diff --git a/test/test_config.py b/test/test_config.py
index 886d5b136..671f34046 100644
--- a/test/test_config.py
+++ b/test/test_config.py
@@ -412,6 +412,10 @@ def test_config_with_quotes(self):
         self.assertEqual(cr.get("user", "name"), "Cody Veal")
         self.assertEqual(cr.get("user", "email"), "cveal05@gmail.com")
 
+    def test_config_with_quotes_with_literal_whitespace(self):
+        cr = GitConfigParser(fixture_path("git_config_with_quotes_whitespace"), read_only=True)
+        self.assertEqual(cr.get("core", "commentString"), "# ")
+
     def test_get_values_works_without_requiring_any_other_calls_first(self):
         file_obj = self._to_memcache(fixture_path("git_config_multiple"))
         cr = GitConfigParser(file_obj, read_only=True)