A recent Pew Research study examined Americans’ views on God’s involvement in elections. Not surprisingly, Christians took a slightly different view on the subject than Americans in general. For example, only 4% of Americans believe that God “chose” President Trump in 2024 because He approves of Trump’s policies. That view is not restricted to President Trump; only 2% believe that God chose President Biden in 2020 because of his policies. 

Those findings reflect peoples’ overall view of God and politics: nearly one-half of the people (49%) surveyed said that “God doesn’t get involved in presidential elections. An additional 14% said that they “don’t believe in God.”  The total for those two categories (63%) was nearly identical to the portion of the population who answered the same way for the 2020 election (62%). Looking back to the previous two elections, those two responses accounted for 66% of those surveyed. Clearly, this is not a new phenomenon; nearly two-thirds of Americans don’t believe that God gets directly involved in elections.

As might be expected, evangelical Christians view things somewhat differently. Only 27% of white evangelicals said that “God doesn’t get involved in presidential elections,” compared to over 60% of the overall population. But the vast majority of these respondents did not believe that God “chose” either President Trump or President Biden because of their policies. 

Only 8% agreed that “God chose Trump to become president because God approves of Trump’s policies”; only 1% said that God “chose” Biden because of his policies.  Clearly, even among white evangelicals, most people do not believe that God “chose” either president.

Nor does race seem to play a large role in Christian beliefs on this subject. Black Protestants are somewhat more likely to believe that “God doesn’t get involved in elections” (approximately 43% as compared to 28% of white evangelicals), but only 4% said that God chose either President Trump or President Biden because of their policies.

Catholics and white nonevangelical Protestants are much more likely than other Christians to say that “God doesn’t get involved in elections” (67%), The percentages for those who stated that God “chose” either Trump or Biden are similar to those in the other groups.

So how can “Christians” have such diverging opinions on God’s involvement in elections? Political orientation may play some part. The study revealed that Republicans were nearly twice as likely as Democrats to say that “the election results must be part of God’s overall plan, even if God didn’t necessarily approve of the winner’s policies.” On the other hand, more Democrats (over 50%) said that God doesn’t get involved in elections than did Republicans (just over 40%). 

But theology must also play a part in this wide divergence of “Christian” views. Obviously, any discussion of the impact that theology plays on the views of individual Christians must be recognized as speculation. However, different groups of Christians do have recognizable beliefs that may influence Christian views on God’s role in elections. 

For example, Christians in the various Calvinist traditions have a much stronger view of God’s direct involvement in human affairs than do Catholics or Wesleyan-Arminian believers. Clearly, those who believe that God controls and has predestined human affairs would also agree that God “chooses” a particular presidential candidate. On the other hand, those who believe that God has given humans free will would be less likely to think that God picks winners and losers in elections.

There is a difference, though, between saying that the outcome was “God’s will” and saying that God chose the winner because of their policies. That difference is reflected in the much larger percentages of Christians who agree that an election “must be part of God’s overall plan” than those who say that God chose the winner because of their policies. For the 2024 election, the following demonstrates the breakdown between these two positions:

Part of God’s Overall Plan:

• White evangelicals 63% 
• Black protestants 51%
• Catholics 26%
• Other protestants 29% 
  

God Approves Policies:

• White evangelicals  8% 
• Black protestants 4%
• Catholics 5%
• Other protestants 3%

Clearly, even among Christians, the vast majority of people do not see presidential elections as God’s approval of the policies of the winner.

This conclusion is also supported by one other datapoint from the study. When Christians were asked how Christians “should think about President Trump today,” 80% agreed that “Good Christians can disagree about Donald Trump.” Contrary to the way religious views are often portrayed, that percentage largely held across racial and denominational lines:

• White evangelicals 85%
• White non-evangelicals 78%
• Black Protestants 80%
• White Catholics 82%
• Hispanic Catholics 76%

And encouragingly, political orientation had little impact as well: 87% or those who are Republican or “lean Republican” agreed that good Christians could disagree about President Trump, compared to 71% of those who are or lean Democrat. The lower percentage for Democrats reflects a significantly higher percentage of Democrats who believe that “Opposing Trump is essential to being a good Christian” (24% versus 1% of Republicans).

Two things stand out from this study. First, while most Christians believe that presidential elections must be “part of God’s plan,” they do not believe that this means God approves of the policies of particular candidates. God could “ordain” a candidate’s election, or God could “allow” it while having a plan to use it for His purposes (which are not necessarily aligned with the candidate’s purposes).

Second, most Christians agree that approval of a particular politician is not a litmus test for Christian belief. As reflected earlier, the percentages of those who hold various views about God’s involvement in elections have held steady throughout the last four presidential election cycles (Obama 2012, Trump 2016, Biden 2020, Trump 2024). While politicians and various media paint a picture of vast division in our country, most Christians agree that “good Christians can disagree about Donald Trump.”

 After all, Jesus did say, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

 Evidently, most Christians grasp that, and are continuing to focus on Jesus’ kingdom, not the political rulers of this world.