The 2020 election is a matter of faith
Bottom Line: As we dig deeper in the Presidential Election cycle that’s remarkably not the biggest or even second biggest story most days...despite being only five months away... Something that’s made news this week plays into a key theme of new research. Today’s political landscape is very much a matter of faith. As recently as a decade ago over 90% of Americans believed in God and around 90% of them were Christians. Because of this dynamic, matters of faith–though important, weren’t necessarily viewed through the prism of party politics. A lot has changed in ten years. Ten years ago, God and Jerusalem were in the Democrat’s official party platform as they had been for decades. By 2012, that was no longer a foregone conclusion. During the 2012 Democrat Convention God and Jerusalem were removed from the Party Platform. At the personal request of President Obama, it was reevaluated for inclusion. It came to a voice vote, not once, not twice but three times. There never was a clear conclusion – you might say that Democrats denied God three times that day. There’s irony for you. Anyway – they included it anyway without clear consensus but it was clear that faith wasn’t ubiquitously welcome in their party any longer.
Fast forward to the Democrats of today. Peruse their platform at democrats.org. You won’t find God. Look anywhere on the site for that matter... I’m not saying it doesn’t exist because I’m not sure I found everything, but if you can find a reference to God on their site – congrats – I think you found Waldo! And herein lies the point. The DNC at minimum no longer prioritizes God and based on the latest from the Pew Research Center – it's not lost on the electorate. According to Pew’s new research...
- 38% of Democrats don’t identify with any faith
That’s more than doubled from 2008 when it was only 18%. The biggest decline – Christians. Only 52% of Democrats today identify as Christian. That’s off 21% over the past decade or so. Conversely, those most faithful have been gravitating to Republicans over the same time. As recently as 2008 a majority of Catholics, non-evangelical protestants, Jews and all other observed religions were Democrats. Republicans were only the majority among Evangelicals and Mormons. Flash forward to today and most Catholics, Evangelicals, nonevangelical protestants and Mormons are Republicans. Only a majority of Jews and other/unaffiliated religious are Democrats. That takes me to the moment of faith this week. One which drew much attention and from some consternation. President Trump’s appearance, Bible in hand,before St. John’s Episcopal Church the day after it was attacked by arsonists during the violent protests.
Appropriate, inappropriate, whatever you may feel – it's something that President Trump knows matters to almost all of his supporters. Ironically, President Clinton did essentially the same thing, at the same church after being busted for having lied under oath for an affair with his intern in the Oval Office. But back then God was still in the Democrat’s platform. Notice how the news media didn’t take issue back then? There’s a reason I refer to them as the goddless, soulless, slanderous news media. This story, this election cycle and their party illustrate what’s changed. This election is very much a matter of faith.