Study finds more than 100 million people of faith could abstain from voting

A study released Monday found that up to 32 million self-identifying Christains are among the group of Americans who may not vote in the 2024 presidential election. The study, conducted by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University and led by George Barna, compiled data from two surveys of a total of 3,000 American adults in August and September. Based on the responses, the researchers found that voter enthusiasm is significantly lower than it was in 2020 and that many respondents dislike both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Researchers classified a person of faith as someone associated with a recognized religious faith or who described themselves as a person of faith. According to the study, only about half of religious respondents indicated they are likely to vote.

How did the study reach its totals? Based on the researcher’s definition, 79 percent of Americans qualified as a person of faith. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the researchers found that there are about 268 million people of voting age and about 212 million of those identify with a faith. If about half of those individuals do not vote as the survey suggested, then approximately 104 million eligible people of faith would not participate in the election. Among those, about 32 million are self-identified Christians who attend church regularly.

What are the main reasons for not voting? Two-thirds of non-voting respondents cited a lack of interest in politics in general as the reason they will sit out this election, while over half said they disliked all the major candidates. Half also said they believed that their vote would not make a difference and that the election had become too controversial.

Are Christian churches playing a role in the election? The survey asked respondents about their church’s political activity in the last two years. Just over 60 percent of respondents who said they regularly attended church said their church had provided sermons or teaching on the Bible’s stance on specific issues. About half said their church encouraged congregants to vote in November without recommending a candidate, and only 24 percent recommended voting for a specific candidate.

In the study, Barna urged pastors to encourage their congregations to vote and to do so with Biblical teaching in mind. He said the election results could be meaningfully affected if the millions of Christians who may not vote choose to go to the polls.

Dig deeper: Visit WORLD’s Election Center to stay up-to-date ahead of the November election.