There’s a new poll out by the Barna group which surveys evangelical Christians and is considered to be very reliable. There’s lot’s of interesting information but this struck me as important:
Historical data indicates that turnout among the voting age population was 53.6%
in 2012 (Obama-Romney); 54.6% in 2016 (Trump-Clinton); and 61.3% in 2020
(Trump-Biden). If the election were held now (about 7 weeks before November
5th), the expected turnout would be 50% of voting age adults. Typically, that
turnout figure will rise several percentage points, likely concluding in the 53% to 55% range. That would put the 2024 election squarely in line with the turnout levels of 2012 and 2016, but below that of 2020.
It’s big problem for Trump if any of his evangelical followers don’t vote. But one biggie there at the bottom is especially problematic this time. The voters who say the election is rigged are almost certainly his. He can’t afford to lose them.
I must say, this surprised me (actually not…)
Moral decline was identified by less than one-quarter of the churched Christians
(23%) as a defining issue in this election.
A pussy-grabbing, con-artist, pathological lying felon is running for president and most of them will vote for him so clearly, morals are not of much interest to these people anymore.
Interesting, no? So what do they care about?
It’s nice to see poverty and homelessness make the list but why do I think that empathy isn’t necessarily what’s driving the concern for many of them? (Maybe it’s because the rest of their agenda closely mirrors Donald Trump’s?)
Among the churched Christians interviewed, Donald Trump generated, by far, the
highest favorable rating of the seven leaders tested. Overall, seven out of 10
(69%) had a very or somewhat favorable score for Trump. No other leader topped
50%. The closest were Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (48%) and VP running mate, Sen.
J.D. Vance (46%). Former President Obama received a favorable score from 37%.
Lower ratings were awarded to Kamala Harris (28%), Timothy Walz (22%) and Joe
Biden (20%).
The highest “unfavorable” rating was generated by Joe Biden (70%), closely
followed by his Vice President and current Democrat candidate Kamala Harris
(64%). No other leaders evaluated received a negative rating by a majority of
churched Christians. Donald Trump had a negative score from one-quarter of the
respondents (25%).