An Evangelical Christian advocacy group is showcasing how fellow believers in Jesus are to love their neighbors by taking an interest in politics by reaching out to a record number of voters just days out from the presidential election. The leader of the organization has made it clear he’s incredibly confident that faith-based voters are going to show up at the polls in record numbers during this cycle. I hope he’s right. We are told to do good to the cities in which we live, to improve conditions and love and serve our neighbors. This work goes beyond just sharing the gospel. That, of course, is included, but we are to actually become the hands and feet of Christ and carry out His will to care for the world He created.
via The Christian Post:
The Faith & Freedom Coalition (FFC) announced Monday that it had knocked on a record 8 million doors in the battleground states expected to determine the outcome of the upcoming election. The advocacy organization added that it expects to interact with 17 million to 18 million voters across the seven swing states by Election Day.
“We are seeing unprecedented enthusiasm and intensity among our volunteers and the voters of faith with whom they are interacting” FFC leader and founder Ralph Reed explained in the statement he sent to the publication. “It is greater than we saw in 2016 or 2020.”
“These voters are coming, and they are coming in historic numbers. That is more important than polls that replicate voter turnout models from past elections that may or may not apply in 2024. This election is effectively tied in every battleground state, and this kind of voter education and turnout operation could be the difference,” he added.
He then went on to say that the “reports of the inadequacy of the conservative ground game in 2024 are greatly exaggerated.”
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Throughout the 2024 election cycle, the FFC has repeatedly touted its ground game, which consists of 10,000 paid canvassers and volunteers deployed to engage “low-propensity voters of faith” and get them involved in the election. FFC hopes to turn out 3 million to 4 million additional voters this year compared to 2020. Additional goals set by the organization this election cycle include completing 10 million volunteer get-out-the-vote calls and distributing 24 million get-out-the vote text messages and 30 million voter guides across 100,000 churches.
Many others believe that while what Reed and his group have accomplished is great, there’s a lot more work to be done by faith-based outreach groups and churches across the country.
A researcher named Craig Huey, who wrote a book called “The Christian Voter: How to Vote For, Not Against Your Values to Transform Culture and Politics,” sat down for an interview with the Christian Post earlier in October where he said, “few Evangelicals are doing what’s necessary to mobilize the Church to vote for, not against, their values.” He also expressed concern that “the amount of effort reaching Evangelicals is sadly lacking.”
During a phone conversation earlier in the month, Reed pushed back against the narrative that efforts being made to reach faith-based voters are lackluster, despite a report published by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University stating that an estimated 32 million self-identified Jesus followers would not be voting in the 2024 election.
“It doesn’t really comport with what we’re seeing on the ground,” Reed stated during the phone call. “In the battleground states that will matter, not just presidential but Senate and even congressional, they’re going to come and they’re going to come in big numbers.”
He anticipated that between 75% to nearly 90% of self-identified Evangelical Christians would vote in 2024, stressing that “self-identified Evangelical Christians turn out” to vote “at a much higher rate than” both “all voters” and “all Republicans.”
Let’s hope other churches and organizations begin to get more involved in reaching out to faith-based voters. Our nation is in a dire situation right now. We need every vote possible to prevent Kamala Harris from becoming our next president.