November Election: Did Conservative Christians Stick with Trump?

By Courtney Rockness

As votes are pouring in and the election is drawing to a close, the race between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates remains neck and neck. With so many factors at stake this year, and an incumbent president running for reelection, questions of whether supporters will be won or lost remain up in the air.

These questions have remained prevalent for the religious community, particularly Christians. Voting according to one’s religious morals can be difficult, since neither party perfectly aligns with Christian beliefs. Yet for many, the typical Republican stance on issues such as abortion and religious freedoms have cause them to lean conservative.

However, doubts over Trump’s character and ability to follow through on certain issues have caused conservative Christians to remain split on the matter. Some are fiercely anti-Trump while others remain major Trump supporters.

The White Evangelical Vote

For white evangelical Christians it has tended to be the latter.

According to trends from the 2016 election, white evangelical Christians have historically been in overwhelming support of Trump. Protestants and Catholics, especially those of different races and ethnic backgrounds, have been a bit more hesitant.

As results come in for the 2020 elections, trends seem to be no different.

Seemingly approving of the way Trump has handled the pro-life and religious freedom platforms that they supported him on back in 2016, conservative Christians so far seem to have remained in support of the President.

According to exit poll data reported by the New York Times, white evangelical or white “born again” Christians make up 27 percent of voters. Out of those, 76 percent voted for Trump while 23 percent voted for Biden. Out of the remaining 73 percent of the population (non-white evangelicals, Protestants, Catholics, or non-Christians), 37 percent voted for Trump and 60 percent for Biden.

The Catholic Vote

Amongst the Catholic community, political leanings in this election have been more divided than they have for white evangelicals. Most polls have shown that Biden has a slight overall lead with this demographic. His Catholic background and stance on other important issues tends to be of appeal to Catholic voters. According to one source, Catholics in support of Biden believe that their “pro-life” stance applies to many other issues beyond just abortion. Racism, the state of the environment, poverty, and the death penalty are all issues that deal with the dignity of life as well.

Yet Trump’s following-through on anti-abortion policies and honoring of religious freedoms while he’s been in office has caused him to gain support from the Catholic population over the years just as it has maintained his favor with white evangelicals. That said, the race has been closer this year in some crucial swing states with Catholic voters, the margin between Trump votes and Biden votes very slim.

Only time will tell as the election results wrap just exaclty how each group voted, but for now trends seem to have stayed mostly the same as they were in 2016.

Person Dropping Paper On Box — Photo by Element5 Digital

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.