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.

  • @[email protected]
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    1241 month ago

    Anecdotal, but there was considerable dissatisfaction and exhaustion with Trump amongst the religious in my hometown back in 2020. Most of them still supported and voted for him, but that any peeled off was novel. Not that they’d ever vote Dem, but simply not voting GOP in a presidential election was a big deal. It’s not inconceivable that the number has increased since.

    • @[email protected]
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      171 month ago

      Seriously, though. “Christians” includes anyone within the net of the Abrahamic religions? This is the widest cast of people possible makes everything said after the title insignificant.

      What might be significant, though, is the Muslim population that is disappointed in Harris for not taking a harder stance against Israel, and has threatened not to vote at all.

      Personally, I think it’s asinine to avoid a vote because the options are between someone who is not taking a hard line against Israel, and another who is on the record saying that Israel should “finish the job”, but then… I’m not a single-issue voter, so these things affect me differently.

      • @[email protected]
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        111 month ago

        I’m not Muslim, but if my options were to vote for someone who wants to kill my family vs someone who won’t stop selling weapons to those who are actively killing my family, I can understand why they wouldn’t be super excited at those choices.

    • Madrigal
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      51 month ago

      Not really, if you look at the history of Christianity, they’re right on brand. You’re just accustomed to an odd kind of “Christianity-lite” that manifested over the past century of so, mostly to keep the religion alive as it risked being left in the dust by social progress.

  • @[email protected]
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    261 month ago

    I skimmed the study itself but couldn’t find how this compares to 2020 turnout of the same group. Just that it’s “lower” and has a +/- of 4% margin.

  • @[email protected]
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    251 month ago

    Can they please not vote every year? A lot of them will be people who vote based on irrational ideas, so that’d be a win for reasonable people.

    • @[email protected]
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      21 month ago

      Only if they’re single issue voting for anti abortion but the abortion candidate is morally horrible. I wouldn’t expect the numbers to stay down.

  • @[email protected]
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    211 month ago

    It’s not enough to not to vote. It’s critical the we vote AGAINST any and all of these extremists. That’s the only way to begin bringing any sanity to our political dialogue.

    • @[email protected]
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      201 month ago

      We live in a two party system. Not voting for your guy is essentially a vote for the other guy. Especially when elections are this close.

      • @[email protected]
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        1 month ago

        That’s the most common misconception. Not voting for your guy does NOT mean a vote for other guy.

        Here is an example:

        Let’s say you don’t want candidate B to win but you chose to not vote against B and just sit at home or write in your dog’s name instead.

        Candidate A: gets 1000 votes

        Candidate B: gets 1002 votes

        100 people like you didn’t vote or wrote their dog’s name on ballot.

        B wins!

        This is what I meant by “actively voting against” vs just not voting.

        • @[email protected]
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          151 month ago

          So not voting for your guy (candidate A) lead to the other guy (candidate B) winning. Seems like you agree with the premise that in our 2 party system, not voting for the candidate you want directly helps the candidate you don’t want.

        • @[email protected]
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          121 month ago

          By your own logic if A wins by 1 vote and you chose not to vote for your guy, B, you essentially gave your vote to A. Good job.

          • @[email protected]
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            1 month ago

            By your own logic if A wins by 1 vote and you chose not to vote for your guy, B, you essentially gave your vote to A. Good job.

            When I don’t vote in the upcoming US elections, my lack of a vote will not become one vote for either candidate. I will cast no votes, and the fact of my existence will not be measured on any ballot or counting system.

            By not voting for the candidate you prefer, the candidate you prefer gets one fewer votes. That’s it.

            • @[email protected]
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              71 month ago

              That is accurate in a theoretical bubble, but in practice, in a two party system, in an incredibly close race, it’s simply not true.

              • @[email protected]
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                1 month ago

                I do vote. I cast one vote. I don’t vote. I don’t cast one vote.

                That is, objectively, the entirety of the truth on the matter.

                Please explain to me how me not voting Democrat creates an extra vote for the Republicans. The votes for the Republican candidate(s) remain(s) the same. The difference between the votes is different, of course, by that one vote.

  • @[email protected]
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    121 month ago

    Calling BULLSHIT. What part do they disagree when it comes to religion?

    1. Child sex - supported by religion.
    2. Rape - supported by religion.
    3. Killing the innocent - supported by religion.
    4. Controlling women - supported by religion.
    5. Anti LGBTQ+ - supported by religion.
    6. Hatred of other races - supported by religion.

    So what is it that will make them change this time?

    • @[email protected]
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      71 month ago

      You might also point out, for balance, that the opposites of those things can also be expected within religious frameworks.

      With or without religion, it is people who purposefully carry out those actions while more often than not being aware they can be conceived of as harmful. You can try to take religion away from people, but don’t expect hate to go with it.

      • @[email protected]
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        31 month ago

        Multiple cultures were well organized and thriving before established religion was forced on them.

        The opposite isn’t laid out like the good ol hate.

        A form of religion will always exist or have existed. The problem when mass religions is the hive mind effect. People are outnumbered and go along with the groups even if it is against them.

        • @[email protected]
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          51 month ago

          Multiple cultures were well organized and thriving before established religion was forced on them.

          I don’t choose to pretend that previous e.g. animist spiritual systems were not religions. This is because I define religion by human practice and adherence, as humans define religion in a world where they invent it.

          • @[email protected]
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            21 month ago

            Yeah, to me religion is just cultural, ceremonial, practices designed to deal with their lack of understanding of the natural world, and assumption of supernatural forces. While animism wasn’t religion as we know it, it did have it’s adherence to practices, and ethics, etc. They were far more local, more based on individual tribes. They were religion, none the less. Just not widespread, centralized, formalized, religion as we see today.

  • @[email protected]
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    81 month ago

    You get handed a bag of snakes, all are lethal, and they demand you pick one. I just have to pass on the snake bite. We are slaves to them, and this is an illusion of the freedom of choice, nothing more.

    • @[email protected]
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      551 month ago

      A Republican rep from Indian wants mixed race marriage to be a state matter. I am white, my partner is Mexican. If he gets what he wants, our relationship will be a crime in at least his state.

      There are no Democrats openly advocating for my marriage to be a crime.

      It seems not all of those snakes aim to kill me.

    • @[email protected]
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      291 month ago

      That’s not how it is though, is it. By not voting you are not exempting yourself from political life, you just choose not to matter.

      You are not passing on the snake bite. You are letting others choose the snake for you.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 month ago

        …you just choose not to matter.

        Yes, this is the best way to live. Pretending to matter is what creates all the bullshit around us.

        • @[email protected]
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          81 month ago

          Sure, man. Be uninterested in politics if you like, but don’t think for a second that this will make politics uninterested in you.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 month ago

            I’m a queer disabled immigrant. I know that humans generally hate me. If you wait long enough, though, humans will destroy themselves.

            • @[email protected]
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              11 month ago

              Our civilization is only a couple millenia old, we existed in a stone age for the overwhelming majority of our existence. We may set ourselves back but I severely doubt we will destroy ourselves.

    • @[email protected]
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      81 month ago

      Muh both sides bad. All available snakes are venomous. Therefore instead of choosing the least venomous (possibly survivable) snake, instead wait for the most venomous snake to slither up your own colon so you can look it in the eyes.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 month ago

        Muh both sides bad. All available snakes are venomous.

        I’m tired of participating in a system where there is nothing I can do to stop people harming people. Can we just hurry up climate change and end this already? I wish there were a weapon that removed only humans, it’s sad you have to bring other life forms into this.

  • LustyArgonian
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    1 month ago

    Considering about 30% of the general population votes, this is pretty significant - 20% more christians will vote than Gen pop

      • LustyArgonian
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        11 month ago

        Hmm, it looks like i got confused by this statistic:

        Overall, 70% of U.S. adult citizens who were eligible to participate in all three elections between 2018 and 2022 voted in at least one of them, with about half that share (37%) voting in all three.

        https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/07/12/voter-turnout-2018-2022

        Which says the national average voter turnout for all 3 elections is 37%. The actual national average turnout for any individual election is about 46-66% depending on if it’s a midterm or not. Since this one is not a midterm election, assuming 50% of Christians are voting, this gives non-Christians an advantage.

  • @[email protected]
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    61 month ago

    It would be ironic if all they did was show up to overturn roe, and this election would have had them sit out the election, but then due to the abortion ammendments they were pushed back into voting.

  • @[email protected]
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    41 month ago

    That seems odd to me considering that antiabortion rules are on the line. I would think they’d be especially motivated to support Trump and get the Senate flipped Republican to keep a federal law from getting implemented to reverse the decision that government can force doctors to let you die if a fetus is the one killing you.

    • @Chapelgentry
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      41 month ago

      From my experience in my very red state, there’s a high degree of cognitive dissonance when it comes to those things. A family friend who’s very religious is secretly undergoing IVF even though the church banned it’s use because they want a child more than the threat of excommunication. Supposedly they’ll be forgiven for going against the church since they’re “fundamentally good” people.

    • @[email protected]
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      31 month ago

      Trump told them they would never need to vote again after this election.

      A bunch of them probably stopped listening after they heard what they want to hear and didn’t hear the part after “again”