The Fight for the Evangelical Vote
As Harris and Trump battle it out to become president in November, both of their campaigns are working to get as many evangelical voters on their teams as possible.
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While white evangelical voters have normally voted for the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, analysts have noted a shift in this year’s election.
Evangelicals Back Harris
Rev. Lee Scott of “Evangelicals for Harris” recently opened up about why he — and his group — feel that Harris is actually the better candidate for Christians than Trump is.
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Scott explained, “We all want people to think more deeply about their civic participation and their faith, and how their faith engages with their politics.”
Looking at Harris’ Public Service
The group’s website pushes that Harris’ public service record shows that her values are more aligned with evangelical Christian values than Trump’s are.
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The website states, “Kamala’s life of public service is a reflection of her faith in Christ.”
Trump Uses Christian Voters?
Scott further explained that he feels as if Trump used Christian voters for his own purposes, even when it went against the Christian faith.
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“[F]rankly, I believe that President Trump has used Christian voters to further his own ends at the expense of the faithful witness of those same voters. Behavior that would be unacceptable in toddlers is promoted as strengthened leadership. And that’s gotta change,” Scott said.
Fighting for the “Politically Homeless”
Scott opened up about how he has felt “politically homeless” — and how many other evangelicals may feel the same way, thanks to Trump.
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“I myself have felt politically homeless since 2016,” Scott explained. “I think that Evangelicals for Harris and prior to that, the group that Reverend [Jim] Ball started as Evangelicals for Biden, is really tapping into a desire for a place for those who are feeling, as believers, somewhat politically homeless.”
Christians Voting for Republicans
Scott also explained that he’s always voted for Republicans, as many other Christians have, simply because of tradition.
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Scott stated, “My first election was in 2004, and there was just this assumption that Christians would just naturally support the Republican candidate. I think that there’s certainly understandable reasons for that. I think there’s a significant crossover in personal interest and Christian interest in a lot of Republican politics.”
Changing How Christians Vote
However, now Scott has realized that he needs to think more about who he votes for. He feels that many other evangelicals may feel the same.
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“It certainly has seemed in recent years that we’ve set aside some of our deeper thinking on that in favor of just going through the habit of pulling the lever for the Republican candidate without really thinking deeper about what that means,” he said.
Christians Attacking Harris for Her Policies
Scott did note that many conservative Christians have attacked Harris for her left policies, particularly when it comes to abortion. However, he feels that there’s more at stake than just one policy.
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“I think that there’s more to it than just a simple, well, where is this candidate on abortion? And you need to get past litmus test politics because we’re not running a chemistry experiment,” Scott stated.
Democratic Policies and Faith
Scott added that the Democratic Party seems to have more policies that align with Christian values when compared to Trump and the current Republican Party.
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Scott concluded, “I think that access to health care, access to an expanded child tax credit, access to support for adoption, foster care, fixing systems that are broken, in regard to those, the Democrats have a better plan.”
Trump Applauds and Attacks Christians
As November nears, both Trump and Harris may work to get more Christians to vote for them. Trump has recently come under fire after he told Christians that if they voted for him in November, they’d never have to vote again, echoing his statements about being a dictator on “day one.”
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Meanwhile, Trump has also attacked Christians who vote for Democrats, saying, “How any Christian can vote for a Democrat, Christian or person of faith, how you can vote for a Democrat is crazy. It’s crazy.”
Will Evangelical Christians Vote for Harris or Trump?
Though Republican candidates traditionally get the white evangelical Christian vote by an overwhelming majority, some analysts think that Harris could cause some Christians to change tradition and vote for her, rather than Trump.
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The Evangelicals for Harris website has stated that more than 200,000 evangelicals have signed a pledge to vote for Harris this November.