MOST Evangelicals plan to vote within the forthcoming General Election, but one quarter haven’t decided which party to support, latest research from the Evangelical Alliance suggests.
The charity surveyed 1469 people last November and December, of whom 1380 described themselves as Evangelical Christians. Of these, 93 per cent said that they were “certain or likely” to vote within the forthcoming General Election, which should be called before January 2025. The Government has yet to announce a date.
The findings of the survey were published on Thursday in a latest report, Thinking Faithfully About Politics: A snapshot of how Evangelicals think and act as they engage in politics.
Ten per cent of Evangelical respondents were members of a political party and/or campaigning for one. More than one third (38 per cent) said that they were “engaged” with politics beyond voting in elections. Only 12 per cent of the respondents said that they trusted politicians, nevertheless — marginally higher than the nine per cent of the overall population. None the less, three-quarters of the Evangelical respondents said that they believed that Jesus would befriend politicians of all parties.
Most of the Evangelical respondents (87 per cent) said that they were more prone to vote for a celebration that was committed to protecting free speech within the workplace. Related to this, almost three-quarters said that preaching and teaching the gospel shouldn’t be confined to the Church, and that political issues shouldn’t be left solely to politicians.
Fifty-eight per cent of the respondents said that a pledge to assist people most in need was one among the major aspects that may determine which party they might vote for. More than half (54 per cent) said that they planned to vote for the party “most closely aligned with Christian/biblical values”, and 48 per cent for the party that they thought would best manage the economy.
The survey found that Evangelicals didn’t vote uniformly; nor did they all the time vote for a similar party through the years.
The report compares the most recent survey findings with an analogous survey conducted by the Evangelical Alliance in 2014. The variety of Evangelical respondents who intend to vote for Labour has risen by 11 per cent in that point (from 31 to 42 per cent), while the Evangelical vote for the Conservatives has increased by only one per cent (from 28 to 29 per cent).
The report also compares the findings with general-public statistics taken from Ipsos MORI Latest UK Opinion Polls. Evangelical pondering on who could be one of the best Prime Minister out of Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer was roughly consistent with that of the overall population: 37 per cent of Evangelicals supported Sir Keir (compared with 34 per cent of the population), and 24 per cent supported Mr Sunak (21 per cent of the population).
Evangelical women were more likely than men to vote Labour.
Asked concerning the top issues facing the UK, Evangelicals listed on this order: the economy; poverty; equality and justice; integrity/trust; Christian values; cost of living/inflation; climate; health/well-being; immigration; and division/unity.
The general public had different priorities: inflation/prices; the economy; immigration; NHS/health care; housing; poverty/inequality; climate; lack of religion in politics/politicians/government; education; and crime/law and order.
The director of advocacy on the Evangelical Alliance, Danny Webster, said: “The findings are each encouraging and insightful. There’s great diversity in how Evangelicals vote, the problems they care about, and the way they put this into practice. . . There’s appetite for more engagement in politics, but in addition distrust of politicians and frustration with political parties.
“Ahead of the General Election, we wish to see Evangelical Christians praying for politics, equipped to think and vote faithfully, and to construct relationships with candidates that can last far beyond election day.”
The chief executive of the Alliance, Gavin Calver, said: “This is a very important yr for the UK, and I pray that this resource will support, encourage, and serve our membership within the election ahead.”
