(OPINION) Millions of Christians in the United States indicated in a study released on Monday that they are not likely to vote in the upcoming election this November, signaling a potential problem for the Republican Party.
Just over half of interviewees (51%) in a Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University study, who identified as “people of faith,” responded that they are likely to vote in the presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The “people of faith” label is given to those who identify with a recognized religion, such as Christianity, Judaism, Mormonism or Islam.
The study found that approximately 104 million people under the “people of faith” umbrella are not expected to vote this election, including 41 million born-again Christians and 32 million who regularly go to church.
“I see two huge take-aways from this blockbuster report,” Len Munsil, President of Arizona Christian University and a former Republican nominee for Arizona governor, said in a news release shared with Just The News.
“First, that Christians could be the deciding factor in a bunch of federal and state races – and are choosing not to be. And second, that they are longing for their local church to instruct them on how to think biblically about policy and politics.
“They don’t want to be told how to vote, but they do want to know why they should vote, and how to view political issues from a biblical framework,” he added.
The research also revealed some of the reasons that the Christians are not planning to vote in November, including a lack of interest in politics (68%), a dislike in both major party candidates (57%), and a belief that their vote will not make a difference (52%). A smaller percentage (48%) believe that the election results will be manipulated.
“The 32 million Christians who regularly attend church services but are not likely to vote represent a far larger margin than the combined number of votes that decided the 2020 election in key battleground states,” the study’s lead researcher Dr. George Barna said.
“If church leaders, family members, and close friends will use their influence to get reticent voters from their churches to cast a ballot on November 5, the election outcome will be meaningfully affected.”
The research was conducted in two phases in August and September, which polled a combined total of 3,000 respondents. The first survey, conducted from Aug. 26 through Sept. 6, polled 2,000 adult self-identified Christians who attended church at least once a month, and had a three point margin of error.
