Post-election survey: 97% of conservative Christians backed Trump
A post-election survey reveals that President Donald Trump received nearly unanimous support from politically active conservative Christians in the 2020 presidential election.
The survey, spearheaded by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, was conducted from Nov. 4, the day after the election, through Nov. 16. Among the respondents, 6,000 were Spiritually Active Governance Engaged Conservative Christians, or SAGE Cons, 2,000 were “semi-SAGE Cons” and the remaining 1,000 were randomly selected from the general public.
According to the survey, 99% of SAGE Cons turned out to vote in the election, compared to 66% of the general public. Trump received the support of 97% of SAGE Cons, who cast approximately 23 million votes in the election.
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“Donald Trump would have lost by a landslide had a significant slice of the voting populace—conservative Christians who are active both spiritually and politically—not turned out and voted for him in overwhelming numbers,” wrote George Barna, director of research at the Cultural Research Center.
When asked why they supported the president over his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, a plurality of SAGE Cons (30%) cited his track record as president as one of the two most influential reasons behind their decision to vote for him. Other top reasons SAGE Cons voted for Trump included his positions on social issues (28%), his positions on fiscal and economic issues (27%), his conservative political ideology (25%) and his leadership abilities (21%).
A majority of SAGE Cons (60%) listed the issue of abortion as an important factor in determining their presidential vote. Other issue positions of importance to this group of voters included judicial nominations and appointments (23%), support for religious freedom (17%), defense of law and order and the U.S. Constitution (12%), as well as the economy (28%).
“Nobody is going to confuse Donald Trump with Jesus Christ, but SAGE Cons believe that the Trump portfolio of policy positions much better reflects the biblical worldview that SAGE Cons seek to implement in all walks of life than do those of Mr. Biden,” Barna stated.
“With the American population moving away from the Bible as a source of truth and moral guidance, SAGE Cons have been pleasantly surprised at how the Trump agenda has coincided with many biblical principles on social and economic matters.”
“In 2016, Donald Trump was put over the top by the 91% of votes he received from an unexpected and largely ignored voter segment. This year he was expected to carry that segment in a big way, but nobody would have predicted 99% turnout and 97% support from them—or from any large-scale voter segment. It is an astonishing display of consensus and support that, statistically speaking, is not likely to be outdone,” he added.
In addition to asking SAGE Cons and the general public for their views about the issues and candidates at the center of the 2020 presidential election, the survey asked respondents to share their perceptions on how the election played out. While the media have declared Biden the winner and many swing states have certified results showing Biden coming out ahead, widespread allegations of voter fraud have cast a cloud of uncertainty on the results.
Most (79%) SAGE Cons believe that there were “numerous instances of abuse” in the voting process. Only 1% believe that the voting process was legally carried out, with all votes accurately counted.
A pre-election survey conducted by the Cultural Research Center found that 96% of SAGE Cons planned to vote for Trump. It also revealed that the group’s opinion of the president had improved significantly since 2016, when a majority of SAGE Cons viewed Trump as arrogant while less than half saw him as trustworthy, presidential, smart and compassionate.
By 2020, those numbers were inverted, with sizable majorities of SAGE Cons regarding Trump as trustworthy, presidential, smart and compassionate while rejecting the idea that he was arrogant.
While in 2016, “most SAGE Cons were voting against Hillary Clinton more than they were voting for Donald Trump,” according to the survey, “by 2020, they had transitioned from reluctant Trump supporters to perhaps his most enthusiastic segment of supporters.”
