I can't tell you how many times I've heard Christians say, "I think I'll sit out this election."
Why?
I've heard a number of reasons, but generally the reason revolves around the idea that "I'm just one vote. Not voting won't matter anyway."
And then, of course, there is the "Christians shouldn't be involved in politics" notion.
Both, of course, are wrong.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3rd. Issues important to Christians are on the ballot, yet many may choose to stay home. Statistics show an estimated 40 million Christians typically sit out elections.
You can't sit this one out.
Be informed, not misled.
Concerned Women for America hopes to reduce that number.
CWA President and CEO Penny Nance told CBN News that if believers would vote their values, America would be more closely aligned with Biblical principles. "If we would all actually show up, do our civic duty and vote, we could swing an election any way we wanted," she said.
Following President Trump's massive win in the 2024 election, George Barna and his Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University reported:
Post-election reports attribute the landslide victory of Donald Trump to various population segments,most notably young adults and Hispanics. Realistically, those groups were helpful but hardly indispensable to the Trump triumph.
The one segment that has gotten virtually no attention from the media are Christians. Simply put, among self-identified Christians, President Trump won a 56% share of their vote. And becauseChristians represented 72% of the voters who turned out, their support for the re-elected Republican made the difference in the race.
In comparison, among people of other faiths or no faith, Vice President Harris was preferred with 60% of the non-Christian vote. Although Harris won a larger share of the non-Christian vote than Trump’sshare of the Christian votes, Christians outnumbered non-Christian voters by more than a five-to-two margin—delivering the decisive Nov. 5 victory to President Trump.
Religious segments with the most substantial drop in turnout included adults affiliated with a faith other than Christianity (turnout cratered from 65% to 53%).
Via Barna Report:
Trump was a heavy favorite among most of the three dozen Christian segments surveyed by the Cultural Research Center. The former president received a landslide 56% to 43% margin of victory among all self-identified Christians.
The Trump margin of preference varied across Christian segments, but was most pronounced among theologically conservative groups. The most Trump-supportive niches were SAGE Cons (90% voted for the former president); white theologically-defined (as opposed to self-identified) born-again
Christians (74%); adults attending Pentecostal/charismatic churches (74%); and theologically-identified (not self-identified) evangelicals (68%).
Among the approximately 75 million votes Trump garnered in the election, more than three-quarters—78%—came from the Christian community.
In contrast, Harris was awarded slightly more than 71 million votes. Overall, less than two-thirds of her votes (63%) came from Christians. While a majority of Trump’s votes were cast by people attending evangelical, Pentecostal, Catholic and non-denominational Christian churches, the largest proportions of the votes from Christians given to Harris were from people who attend mainline and traditionally black Protestant congregations.
Why did so many Christians not vote?
Despite nearly $2 billion being spent on the presidential race alone and months of frenzied media coverage of the Biden, Harris, Kennedy, and Trump candidacies, nearly one-half of the voting-age population (45%) chose not to vote. Both parties, as well as candidates in all states and at all levels of government, engaged in extensive get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns.
Why did so many Americans voluntarily abdicate their opportunity to shape the government and, through it, their own future? The survey found that the most common reason was lethargy: one out of five voting-age, self-identified Christians (20%) said they had intended to vote but simply forgot or never got around to it. There was a similar level of neglect among non-Christian adults, as one-sixth of them gave the same reason.
Several alternative explanations were given by 12% to 15% of self-identified Christians who were of voting age. Those included were those who believed their single vote would not make a difference; disliked all the major candidates; did not know enough about the candidates to choose one; believed the election results would be rigged; and lacked sufficient interest in politics and elections.
A deeper dive into the religious subgroups provides a few surprises. Theologically-defined evangelicals a group widely deemed to be politically active and informed—and sometimes chastised for the intensity of their political engagement—were twice as likely as other religious segments to explain the decision to not vote as driven by a lack of interest in government and elections (22%)
The task before us.
Concerned Women for America launched its "She Prays, She Votes" Bus Tour, which stops in 9 states from now until Election Day, including Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. The goal is to motivate Christians, an underrepresented voting block, to head to the polls.
"You look at any church, any given Sunday," Nance said. "In your mind, take half of that group and recognize that half of them are not registered to vote. And then split half of that again, so now we're down to a quarter. That's how many on any given Sunday that's actually going to vote."
Takeaway
I am expanding this ministry to influence more people to vote and pray, and to encourage others to do so as well.
We are expanding in the belief that our radio listeners and readers of this Faith and Freedom Daily column will stand with us financially.
Thank you in advance.
This upcoming midterm election will be more consequential than any midterm in this generation.
The general election in about 24 months will be the most consequential of our lifetime.
Much hangs in the balance.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.