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HomeCommentarySurvey: Young evangelicals at odds with their political parties

Survey: Young evangelicals at odds with their political parties

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Mitt Romney speaks to crowd in Nashua, NH during a rally for Romney/Ryan 2012.
Mitt Romney speaks to crowd in Nashua, NH during a rally for Romney/Ryan 2012.

A large majority of young evangelicals see a conflict between their faith and their political party — but Democrats grapple with this disconnect much more than Republicans.

So says a new survey from Sojourners, the progressive Christian group, which asked evangelicals under the age of 35 about their political views and civic engagement.

The survey – of mostly single, college-educated evangelicals – showed that 54 percent identified as Republicans, 26 percent as Democrats and 20 percent as Independents or something else.

Of the Republicans, 65 percent said their faith convictions frequently or sometimes conflict with the positions taken by the political party they usually support. That was true of 83 percent of Democrats.

“As a young Christian, I know no candidate or party ever lines up perfectly with my religious beliefs. But that doesn’t stop me from voting or engaging the political system,” said Tim King, a young evangelical who also works as a spokesman for Sojourners.

“Voting is always a choice between imperfect people. That’s why engaging in advocacy is so important — when politicians are missing important issues, we have the ability as voters to try and put those issues on their agendas,” King said.

Sojourners released “Young Evangelicals in the 2012 Elections” on Tuesday (Oct. 16) as a snapshot of the group as a political force.

Because the survey was based on only 161 respondents, Sojourners acknowledged that the survey gives more of an impression of the group than solid scientific data. The margin of error of the survey is a relatively high plus or minus 8 percentage points.

Among other questions, the survey also asked about the separation of church and state (47 percent agree or strongly agree that there must be strict separation) and the content of sermons they hear (55 percent had heard abortion addressed from the pulpit, and 73 percent had heard about poverty).

Tracy Simmons
Tracy Simmons
Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of FāVS.News, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.

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Dennis
Dennis
11 years ago

I’m not surprised by that statistic at all. I get frustrated at times by the response, when politics or the election is brought up, “yeah they’re all liars”, as if there is no difference at all between either party. I fully realize that the republican party has no corner on righteousness, far from it. But the party platforms, which again most of the time do not become the reality of party decision making, still at least give a written declaration of what that party would like to be. The differences this time around are stark to say the least. The democratic platform has several planks that are in direct opposition to what God declares to be true in His Word. Homosexuality and abortion, to name the most glaring, along with the initial decision to strike any mention of God from the platform would to my mind make it terribly hard for a commited Christian (one who believes the Bible to be true, that is) to support such a party. Having watched the sorry attempt to reintroduce the “God mention” after detecting a possible politically liability in leaving mention of Him out, was nauseating. The real, obvious voice vote was absolutely, vociferously against putting back any mention of Him, but the man at the podioum over-ruled. I believe God over-rules every human institution and decision for His own purposes. I am not a prophet and do not have a clue how this election will turn out, but based on where our country is morally and spiritually, I fear that it’s possible we may be the recipients of God’s allowing us to have our way politically speaking, and to operate without Him in the future. We take for granted the blessings He has so richly given to us and no doubt will not attribute disaster to Him either, if it comes, but all things come from the One Who rules heaven and earth. The earth and everything in it belong to Him. We are breathing His air, walking on His ground, eating food He has provided. My prayer is we repent and go back to acknowledging that, and for a spiritual revival in our land. It is our only hope.

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