Faith may have made all the difference in terms of securing the election of President Trump.
Much has been said and written about the historic gains made by the incoming president with black and Hispanic voters, who arguably turned away from the Democrat Party because it has increasingly turned against them—as well as working- and middle-class Americans generally.
The irony of our time is that the Democrat Party has become the party of the so-called “elite,” a smear formerly used by Democrats against Republicans, especially conservative Republicans.
This changing of roles could literally be seen by looking at the electoral map. The areas where working and middle-class people of all races live tended to be the reddest while the areas where the very affluent (many of whom are affluent because they work for the government) tend to cluster—as around cities such as San Francisco, Boston and (of course) Washington, DC—were the deepest shade of blue.
But the vote that may have made all the difference was the faith vote—brought to bear by a “ground game” among the faithful that included the National Faith Advisory Board’s My Faith Matters Tour, which worked with thousands of pastors to register members of their congregations who had not voted last time and a concerted effort to encourage their congregations to vote. When the data looked dim for the faith vote with thousands of churchgoing Christians predicted to sit out of the election, the pastors who led their congregations from the pulpit to the polls changed this election for good.
The results speak for themselves.
According to exit polling data published by The Washington Post—considered by many to be an organ of the Democrat Party and so the numbers are probably higher than reported—56 percent of Catholic voters supported Trump as opposed to 41 percent who said they voted for Kamala Harris. In the 2020 election, only 47 percent said they voted for Trump while 52 percent said they voted for Biden (who claims to be a Catholic).
That’s a nine percent gain—for Trump.
Similar data compiled by NBC and published by Baptist News gave Trump an even wider margin, with Catholics favoring Trump 58 percent to 40 percent for Harris.
The Post says Trump also gained about two percent of the Protestant/evangelical vote vs. 2020 when he got 60 percent of their vote. This year, he increased that to 62 percent.
He did even better among Mormons. Fox News says 63 percent of Latter-day Saints voted for Trump.
The why is not easy to divine.
Christians of all denominations have had enough.
They are opposed to the culture of death that is evasively referred to as the “Pro-Choice” movement. The “choice” to destroy life, that is. Catholics and Protestants have their disagreements over doctrinal questions, but there is common cause when it comes to opposing the ending of innocent life. The life of babies—a word Christians are not afraid to use.
President Trump no doubt earned their support via his appointments to the Supreme Court, which remanded the federal law imposing abortion as a constitutionally protected right back to the states to decide on a state-by-state basis.
The Democrats tried hard to frame this as an assault upon women’s “reproductive rights”—as if Trump favored or sought a law denying the right of women to have children.
Abortion is a difficult and divisive issue. But people of good faith can agree that it ought not to be encouraged as a kind of casual form of birth control, much less celebrated—as some of those on the left celebrate it. The ending of any innocent life can never be cause for celebration—and many Christians have tired of it being celebrated.
They expressed their weariness of this at the polls—and it showed.
Another reason for Trump’s gains among Christians and especially evangelicals is almost certainly due to his steadfast support for Israel—and his very clear opposition to resurgent anti-Semitism. The Democrats, on the other hand, have backed themselves into a corner they find they cannot back out of. They decry “racism”—but apparently that no longer includes racism toward Jewish people.
People of faith saw rank-and-file Democrats (as on college campuses) all-but-pogroming Jewish students to chants of Free Palestine!
It is arguable this cost the Democrats the election—or at the very least, Pennsylvania.
Many analysts of the aftermath say that had Kamala Harris tapped Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro—who is both popular and Jewish—she might have at least won that battleground state. But instead, she chose Minnesota’s LGBTQ-friendly Governor Tim Walz—because she was afraid of offending the leftists who have come to dominate the Democrat Party and who consider supporting Israel to be “racist” and failure to call a biological he a she to be “phobic.”
This also cost Harris Christian votes she could not afford to lose.
She did, however, make some gains among those of no faith.
According to The Post’s data, 72 percent of those who expressed no religious affiliation voted for Harris this time as opposed to the 65 percent who voted for Biden last time.
This is not surprising given the hostility toward religion emanating from today’s Democrat Party, as manifested by its aggressive promotion of the early sexualization of minor children via such things as Drag Queen Story Time in elementary schools and the pushing of biological men into women’s sports and bathrooms.
People of faith are appalled by such things. And people who lack faith are appalled that anyone would be appalled by such things.
Isn’t everyone in favor of Drag Queen Story Time for kids?
But this election showed that having faith can, and did, make all the difference.
As we celebrate this victory for righteousness, let’s build on the momentum gained and reinforce the fact that when people of faith in America unite with one voice, we are a force to be reckoned with.
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Paula White-Cain is the president and founder of the National Faith Advisory Board. Jenny Korn is a senior adviser to the National Faith Advisory Board.
There are always a slew of articles, post-election, analysing why a campaign was/wasn’t successful, particularly when the circumstances are viewed as unusual or the victory was unexpected. And, generally speaking, those articles, like this one, are partially right.
Faith did make a difference. PDJT undoubtedly did better with certain voters who identify as having a religious affiliation but that begs the question, if faith was the pivotal factor, why did 30-40% of people who claimed to be Christian vote Dem in the last election?
I think that it would take a much deeper dive, down to the granular level, to understand that. The piece talks about various faith groups in very broad terms but I suspect that if it was possible to know if the individual was someone who went to mass and confession every week vs. those who attend Christmas and Easter masses only, you would find a very different voting pattern. I know that holds true among the Jewish community – Hasidic & Orthodox Jews voted differently than Reformed and non-observant Jews. Compare Episcopalians’ voting habits & Mormons’ and there is likely to be a wide separation of views even though they are both considered Protestant faiths.
My point is that I think that the author is conflating correlation with causation and drawing conclusions from that assumption that don’t necessarily play out. I have no religious affiliation, yet I am strongly anti-abortion, for school prayer & adamantly opposed to the transgender movement and I have always supported the most conservative candidate available while black women, who trend heavily towards the Baptist faith, voted overwhelmingly for Harris. People vote the way they vote for a multitude of reasons; the percentages gained by DJT with each mentioned group is as easily explained by people having been pushed beyond what they were willing to tolerate by the current administration as that it was a faith-based choice.
Faith motivates people to seek for what is good and righteous. Faith as exercised by the prayer of the righteous is also a very powerful weapon against all forms of sophistry and chicanery.
I have lived longer than I thought I would, experiencing very dark moments in my life. I have come to believe in the great power of prayer, relying on the one who is able to do what we cannot.
In His time and His way, He brings about what the prayers of millions seek.