Voting in Line with Scripture

God is our source of wisdom in order to live a life that pleases Him - when we make Jesus our Lord, we have declared a new source of authority for our lives, and He offers us clear principles and the 
accompaniment of the Holy Spirit to make our decisions. Psalm 32 states:
7 You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.

We can hide ourselves in the Lord - that doesn't mean to hide out or withdraw from the world, but to be engaged in living for Christ and being clothed in His presence.  Ephesians 4 tells us to put off the old ways and put on the new.  Ephesians 6 describes the full armor of God.  The way we behave should be a testimony to presence of God within us, a presence that also goes before us to light our way, so that God may be glorified.

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In the selections that we are called to make, day by day, as well as when we vote in an election, we can follow the simple principles that we find in Proverbs 3:
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

The polling leading up to the election certainly had some differences with what we've seen thus far in the election results.  But, it does seem that there is certainty among one particular group of people - it was identified by polling expert George Barna in the 2016 election, and the people known as the SAGE Cons have continued to be influential in electoral politics. Barna is currently the Director of Research for the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University.

In fact, according to ChristianHeadlines.com, prior to the election, this group was again indicating support for the President, to an even greater degree. The article says:

The survey, which was commissioned by the Family Research Council (FRC), looked at a key group of conservative Christians known as SAGE Cons (Spiritually Active Governance Engaged Conservative Christians), who was the “most united body” of Trump supporters in the 2016 election.

In 2016, about 91 percent of SAGE Cons voted in the election with 93 percent of them voting for Trump. Four years later, the amount would increase with 96 percent of SAGE Cons who are likely to vote for the president for a second term.

But, the motivation in 2020 was slightly different among this group; as the article states: "When Trump ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016, SAGE Cons were reluctant in their vote for Trump, but they could not vote for Clinton because of her policies. In 2020, however, SAGE Cons feel more confident in voting for Trump in light of his first term achievements."

The top issues influencing this group?

Pro-life policies, at 52 percent indicating this was a key issue;

Religious freedom, 43 percent, tied with

Federal court appointments, also at 43,

Law and order, at 26 percent, and

The economy, with 24 percent.

The exit polling data is beginning to come in now for the 2020 Presidential race, with The Christian Post reported that:

Preliminary 2020 election exit polls released Wednesday suggest that President Donald Trump lost about 4 percentage points in white evangelical support compared to the 2016 election, but gained support in key demographics such as Catholics, Protestants, blacks and Latinos.

Early exit polling data conducted for The Washington Post and other media outlets indicates that Trump, the Republican incumbent, garnered 76% of the white evangelical vote, while former Vice President and Democratic nominee Joe Biden picked up 23% of the white evangelical vote.

The article did mention that this is "preliminary" data. While research Ryan Burge puts the vote among white evangelicals in the 76-77% range, the article notes that another survey offered a repeat of that familiar 81% stat from 2016, citing a poll from Public Opinion Strategies that found that "81% of self-identified evangelicals voted for Trump and only 14% voted for Biden."

This data, which will continue to roll in over the next few days and weeks and will be thoroughly analyzed in Christian media, does provide a reminder for all Christians: we should make sure that our decisions are based on Scripture and led by the Holy Spirit.  As I said throughout the campaign, we should vote for candidates that line up with the principles of God's Word.  It's a template that is based on a spiritual foundation of decision-making: recognize the authority of Scripture, submit to it, pray over our decisions, and trust God to lead us.  When we surrender to knowing and doing God's will, He will express His glory through us.