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The outspoken Rev. Franklin Graham claimed today that the “majority of Christians” did not vote.
“We know that from of the statistics that I’ve heard that the majority of Christians in this country just did not vote for whatever reason,” he told the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody. “The vast majority of evangelicals did not go to the polls.” He added, “God is in control, and if Christians are upset, they need to be upset at themselves. We need to do a better job of getting our people- the church to vote. Now, I’m not trying to tell you how to vote, you can vote, but vote, my goodness, and vote for candidates that stand for Biblical values.”
But Graham’s assertion -- and implication that had white Christian evangelicals just showed up in bigger numbers, President Obama would have lost -- is off base.
In fact, white evangelicals/born-again Christians made up the same percentage of the electorate as they did in 2008 – 26%. They voted for Mitt Romney, a devout Mormon, by a wider margin than they did for Sen. John McCain four years ago.
And, they made up a larger share of the electorate in 2012 than in 2004, when the Christian Right supposedly fueled George W. Bush’s reelection. They also voted for Romney with the exact same margin as for Bush in 2004, 78%-21%.
Not to mention, Obama won the 48 percent of the electorate that was Christian and not Protestant or Mormon -- 50%-48% among Catholics (25% of the electorate) and 50%-49% of "Other Christians" (23% of the electorate).
In Ohio, they were 1 point more of the electorate than 2008; in Colorado, 4 points higher; in Iowa, up 7 points; in Nevada, up 2.
White evangelical voters in select swing states
CO: 25%, 76-22 Romney; 2008: 21%, 76-23 McCain
FL: 24%, 79-21 Romney; 2008: 24%, 77-21 McCain
IA: 38%, 64-35 Romney; 2008: 31%, 65-33 McCain
NV: 18%, 69-28 Romney; 2008: 16%, 72-27 McCain
OH: 31%, 69-30 Romney; 2008: 30%, 71-27 McCain
They did decline as a share of the electorate in North Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin. But the drops in states like North Carolina (Graham’s home state) and Virginia likely have less to do with apathy and more to do with demographic changes – transplants in North Carolina’s Research Triangle and growth in the Washington, D.C., suburbs of Northern Virginia, for example.
The fact is, Virginia and North Carolina are looking less and less like the Old South and more and more like Mid-Atlantic states.
White evangelical voters in the South (where exit polls are available)
MS: 50%, 95-5 Romney; 2008: 46%, 94-6 McCain
AL: 47% , 90-10 Romney; 2008: 47%, 92-8 McCain
NC: 35%, 79-20 Romney; 2008: 44%, 74-25 McCain
VA: 23%, 83-17 Romney; 2008: 28%, 79-20 McCain
Are there Christian evangelicals who did not vote? Certainly. But that’s true every year and of every demographic group.
Evangelicals make up 26 percent of adults in the country, according to a major 2008 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey. They matched that this election.
The U.S. Census says there are more than 311 million people in the United States. If evangelical adults are 26 percent of them, then there would be 80 million potential voters.
So far, 123 million votes have been counted in this election – and that number will get higher by the millions as votes continue to be counted like in 2008. Evangelicals made up 26 percent of them, therefore, about 32 million evangelicals voted – less than half of their population.
But there’s a need for context here: (1) They make up just 14 percent of the registered-voter base in the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. They outpaced that percentage in the presidential election, (2) This is true every other demographic group in the country as well.
Latinos, for example, according to the U.S. Census, are nearly 17 percent of the country, but only made up 10 percent of the 2012 electorate. They make up just 8 to 9 percent of the registered-voter base of the NBC/WSJ poll.
That would mean just 12 million of the 52 million adult Hispanics voted.
If this was Australia, and the U.S. had compulsory voting, Graham’s argument that evangelicals would have tipped the balance would not hold up very well.
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If religious leaders of any belief think their church/etc. should have more power in running the gov, then why don't they just come out and say it clearly? I think we all know why they won't, they just do a good job at trying to make people feel guilty....and they wonder why so many young folks are leaving it, guilt pressure is a dangerous motivator for getting true support they will maybe some day understand. If they can't convince folks to follow them for other reasons, that is their inadquecy.
The GOP have only themselves to blame. They were so sure they would be dealing with President-Elect Romney that they tossed all caution to the wind, they went all in, they burned their bridges and now they've got to live with the consequences.
The President and We The People....have them over a barrel and they know it. Just look at Boehner's face. He looks like it's a painful and distasteful experience to shake the President's hand. He looks like he's about to cry. I hope he does, he should, because he blew it.
The GOP is still in shock. They thought with their fat little evil genius, Karl Rove, pulling the strings and all the hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in pac money AS WELL AS the 24/7/365 propaganda cycle of FOX NEWS/LIMBAUGH/BECK/COULTER/HANNITY/O'REILLY, etc they could not lose.
SUUUUPRISE!
Napoleon once said that God favors the big battalions. Boehner and McConnel just had the truth of that axiom demonstrated to them in a most painful fashion.
GEE, it turns out Millionaires/Billionaires DO only get one vote each and there are WAAAAAAAAAAAAY more of us than them. So clever Karl's little plan to game the system back-fired and Boehner and McConnel have got to eat humble pie in order to save their own worthless hides. How does it taste boys?
Life is good isn't it?
Sometimes, good triumphs over evil and sometimes the good guys win.
But let's try not to become that which we despise. We need to remember to be magnanimous in victory, just as Lincoln would have been had he lived. We cannot follow the harsh, scorched earth policies of the reconstruction. We've got to come together and work together for a better tomorrow.
We The People....have spoken.
Boehner ALWAYS looks like he's about to cry...and often does!
tea party sunk...,
I agree with your basic tenets, but would add that much of the GOP's campaign of Big Money and botchy attempts at poll manipulation seems to have back-fired. I wonder if, contrary to some Vine posters, many folks of a conservative bent found FOX commentators and Tea Party rhetoric just too much to remain credible. And President Obama was not without his millionaire/billionaire supporters (remember Warren Buffet and even some Bain Capital mangers?). But I really think that it was the late campaign extremism as presented by Akin, Mourdock, Franklin Graham, Rove and Huckabee (among others). It seems that as Nov. 6 got closer, the vitriol got louder and baser; while America was trying to deal with the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. Couple that with a deadlocked Congress, that most blamed on the GOP, I am surprised that the final result was as close as it was.
I do believe that many in the evangelical and fundamentalist camps did stay home, not because "God" told them to, but because they could not reconcile the GOP message with basic Christian values like love, peace and forgiveness.
I take offense at Franklin Graham's comments. I am a Christian and I voted for Barak Obama who happens to be a Christian. Mitt Romney is a Mormon, which the Christian church calls Mormonism a "cult". I cant understand why Franklin Graham would want Christians to vote for a member of a "cult.
According to the Bible, God has a special place in his heart for the poor, as does President Obama. From what I heard from Mitt Romney, he has a special place in his heart for the rich.
Go figure.
Because evangelicals are willing to tolerate Mormonism more than they're willing to tolerate a black President.
I am a Christian who voted for Obama. A lot of Christians I know voted for Obama. So I will take credit for voting him back into office. Franklin Graham needs to read his bible. Bigotry, racism and telling lies is not a Christian trait.
Is the G.O.P/Paul Ryan Budget supported by the Faithful?? Paul Ryan was chided by the Catholic Bishops for his anti-poor budget and Paul had the audacity to say, "The greatest of all responsibilities, is that of the strong to protect the weak. The truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves."
Ryan's budget decimates programs for "those who cannot defend or care for themselves." The sanctimonious V.P. nominee seems to have forgotten the Ninth Commandment: "Thou shalt not lie." Ryan believes he can say anything and get away with it.
Apparently Rev Graham is not paying attention to how the GOP Agenda would affect Millions of people trying to get back on their feet as a result of the BUSH RECESSION...Created by the GOP!
Carl Jensen,
Please reread your Ten Commandments. The Commandment is to not "bear false witness." This does not equate to lying per se, but rather to nor gave false testimony before a court (which in the O.T. framework was a Temple court) or under an oath to God. This commandment is akin to the "not commit blasphemy" commandment which is also misunderstood. Coarse language may be distasteful, but is not blasphemy; it . Blasphemy is misuse of the Lord's name, as in "G-D it" or "J---- H. C-----" uttered in anger, pain or contempt. "Use in vain" is to call upon the power of the Lord's name for a selfish purpose, for an unearned good or retaliatory bad against others.
And don't forget that Franklin Graham is in the church/charity business. His 2011 salary was to be $1.2million, until a public outcry "persuaded" him to donate it back. But nothing has been said about future salaries. One should also note the Franklin was quoted as saying that big government aid programs hurt churches, the "traditional" suppliers of assistance to the aged, infirm and poor. However, my admittedly limited research says that churches today are just as active in these efforts as they were before, but traditional churches are declining for other reasons. In part, perhaps the growth of evangelical "mega-churches" which devote more time and MONEY to growth, media, and bricks and mortar than they do to outreach and charity. I would point out that ALL churches face this dilemna as salary, utility and maintenance costs rise faster than support. Further, aside from the Salvation Army, Catholics and Jews have much better records of broad public assistance in the US than Protestants. Franklin's local church model typically helped their own, and left others to the county, to the state or to the Catholics or Jews to feed, cloth or house. County poor farms, like state mental institutions lasted into the 1950-60 period. Today's "big government model" actually relies on private organizations, like churches and church affliates to bridge the gap closing the county and state institutions provided, and they have proven woefully inadequate. My small church routinely distributes nearly $10k per year, some global or national but mostly local. I contributed $250 in purpose bought groceries (enough to feed five families for a week) bought at the lowest price stores in town; the groceries were gone in a little over a week, and we were turning away people again. But we see NO national church or Samaritan's Purse coming to those people's aid. I am nearly 62, no in the best of health, and out of work for most of the last three years; I bought those groceries out of my life savings which I've been living on. The folks I helped have already spent theirs, some poorly - but not all. But we are not photogenic or sensational enough, just more mostly white folks in Mid-America in hard-times.
Oddly, I can never recall Franklin's father, the Rev. Billy Graham ever promoting a candidate nor debasing him; not even JFK (a Catholic) or Ronald Reagan (a divorcee). Franklin Graham's pronouncements seem to be based more on the precertion of the President's last name and the color of his skin, than on his beliefs or actions.
The reason is that this Graham guy swears to white supremacy more that he swears to Jesus. Lets all learn to call a spade a spade. He is a racist....
Franklin Graham is a fraud and a con man, pure and simple.
He is a disgrace to stand in the pulpit.
Obviously, he learned NOTHING from his father;
you know, that little thing called 'integrity'.
Hey Frank, Jesus has a message for you:
"Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"
Frank, He spoke that with YOU in mind.....
Wake up call "Christians...It is not about you!! The good news is that you have not lost your freedoms but neither has anyone else!!
Here, here!
Hey, Rev. Franklin, I'm a Christian, church-going, fiscally conservative, middle-aged, affluent, well-educated, white woman. I voted. For the FIRST time in my life, I voted a straight Democratic ticket. Let me tell you why: I'm sick of the segment of the GOP that continually belittles women and people who aren't Christians, downplays gender discrimination (or pretends it doesn't exist), makes light of rape and is hysterically homophobic.
Thank you, UTAH SOCCER MOM! Well said!
Amen, sister, amen. Paul in his letter to Titus said that the mouths of some must be stopped or muzzled because they speak not for the Lord or for the common good, but only to profit themselves. We are called upon to serve and help our fellow human: regardless of race, belief, or sex.
"The U.S. Census says there are more than 311 million people in the United States. If evangelical adults are 26 percent of them, then there would be 80 million potential voters."
(wrong. 76% of those 311 million are of voting age, therefor 61 million evangelical voters.)
"So far, 123 million votes have been counted in this election – and that number will get higher by the millions as votes continue to be counted like in 2008. Evangelicals made up 26 percent of them, therefore, about 32 million evangelicals voted – less than half of their population."
(wrong. 50% voted.)
"But there’s a need for context here: (1) They make up just 14 percent of the registered-voter base in the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. They outpaced that percentage in the presidential election, (2) This is true every other demographic group in the country as well. Latinos, for example, according to the U.S. Census, are nearly 17 percent of the country, but only made up 10 percent of the 2012 electorate. They make up just 8 to 9 percent of the registered-voter base of the NBC/WSJ poll. That would mean just 12 million of the 52 million adult Hispanics voted."
(you did it again. 17% of country is 52 million. 76% of country is electorate, or 236 million. 10% of electorate is 24 million. half of the adult hispanics voted. your numbers don't hold up very well.)
Be careful not to mix people, citizens and adult citizens. I suspect the same analysis, and the census did not ask, not verify citizenship or voting eligibility, of your numbers would be equally suspect. The real message is that the presumed voting block that people like Franklin Graham and Karl Rove imagined did not develop. Regardless of the precision of the numbers, the result is still the same.
Having said that, I also thought the statistics were sloppy. The unfortunate thing about the Census is the fact that you know that they are almost required to fudge some figures due to false or non-respondents, both citizen (xenophobes, nut-jobs, illegals). The other component is the self-identification of affilation in voter registration, particularly as "Independent." Many do this to avoid campaign solicitations or ads --- It doesn't work. If you contribute, they've got you; unless you lie (potential crime if the contribution is large enough). And I am still trying to anything but private surveys regarding faith. Most "institutional" faiths (read as Jews, Islam, Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, AME's (my wife is an Elder), Presbyterians, Unitarians, and even the Amish (both) and Most of the Baptists) use an interfaith study group. Their last study, now about three years old, identified some 51+% of Americans as UNCHURCHED, although some 67% said Christian. (Please note the survey also included other faiths like Bhuddist, Hindu, Confuscious, Shinto, Naturism, etc.)
That statistical gap bothers me more. When churches fund a study and it finds churches are losing, how can some churches be winning, unless their congregation doesn't consider their church church, but a non-aligned "Christian" experience? Which the recent nosed dives in "mega-church" attendence and finances reflects.
If his father was a Clarion call for Christianity, Franklin Graham is a tin whistle, hollow and bitter and dwarfed forever in the shadow of his father's legacy. If he truly held Christian beliefs and followed the word of God he would be a Democrat ... that's why the Republicans lost. You don't win by supporting non-Christian cults.
Oh, of course its their fault! If they would have just prayed hard enough all would have been just fine...true believers of a true religion would have prevailed and we could have prayed ourselves right back to the 1840's where men were men, women were the "little lady" of the house and field hands could be beaten to work a little harder instead of us having to rely on all those lazy illegal immigrants who can just go where they want.
Actually God wanted President Obama to be re-elected. The religious right was going against the will of God.
For the most part, Franklin Graham speaks without thinking and without any factual basis. He is nothing but a loose canon firing off his mouth for attention. He is riding on his daddy's coat tails. He could never have gotten where is is if he were not the son of the evangelist. Franklin went though a period of rebellion, rejecting everything Christianity stood for. Then he woke up and realized there was a gold mine in the field of evangelical Christianity, especially if your daddy was famous. Franklin Graham is an embarrassment to Christianity and speaks only for himself, as ignorant as he is. He became associated with Samaritan's Purse ONLY because of connections his daddy had.
Exactly right. Why work for a living when you can soak all those sad people who believe you have a direct line to God.
your right...they are the ones who are issuing in the end times ..bad times in the name of God
Many of the people who fought for you to have the freedom to state such nonsense here would have been ashamed of your interpretation of the Constitution. They wanted never to have a State church. Like most European and South American countries do and have had for 100's of years. They knew what happens wehn a church says worship as we say or you don't work or don't live. They had seen first hand being locked out of jobs because your beliefs were not the approved beliefs of the nations Church. They paid preachers out of tax dollars and bought Bibles with tax dollars to give to the Indians. Every soldier had a Bible given him. Since 1954 we have interpreted this phrase the Congress shall make no law" establishing a religion – in a way our founders never did.
The anti Christian vitriol is all but amazing. In any Arab country your freedom to be so blatant would have been met quickly and with deadly results. Yet here in a country that was set up so that one did not have to be Christian, Moslam, Buddhist or any other thing it is Christians that are being muzzled and denied the Rights guaranteed to you. Yes it was Christians that guaranteed you the freedom of speech that you use and they are not supposed to. We can celebrate any Holiday (HOLY DAY) except one that a Christian may celebrate. You celebration may offend the Christian and you hope it does but he or she seldom complains about that. It is you that want to curtail their choice of what to celebrate.
In my lifetime I've had to hide my beliefs in order not to be harrassed or persecuted. I've lived 59 years in the good ole USA. With the change of the times, society has come to the conclusion that religion is irrelevant to living, and should be seperated from our government in order for all of us to live together.
Defending old bigotted values of the religious right is like defending states rights for the south so they may have slavery.
Someone state that Republican supporters own dogs and Democrat supporters own Cats. Tea Party must own nothing.
I will consider taking political advise from a religious institution, any religious institution, when they start paying taxes on that institution. I have the right to not only vote, but to complain and comment on the outcome, because I pay taxes. Let the Reverend complain on a personal level, if he wishes, as long as he is paying taxes. But RELIGIOUS GROUPS NEED TO BE QUIET ABOUT POLITICS. The day is coming when the rest of us will demand that your tax-exempt status be revoked due to your political actions. You have been warned.
Amen, Paris - Religious groups used to steer clear of politics for fear of having the gov't involved in their business. Now that the churches are basically political lobbying groups, have them register as such, pay taxes, and donations to them will no longer be tax exempt. That's only fair. BTW, I pray a lot, and am thankful that the decent Christian won the election.
Saw the new movie "Lincoln". Seems a mirror of what is happening today, though the progressives will never go back the way it was. It was very racist.
Just came home from that movie myself! Great film, a lot similarity to what is going on today. Now we even have secession being suggested again. Then it was to support a different lifestyle that was cruel to some. What is the justification now?
sorry there fella..you angered the black.Mexican Asian..Christians...and lost christian man
oh I forgot blacks Mexicans Asians are infidels huh there Franklin..they are none Christians huh
have y'all notice Bush pass the faith base tax...Government..meaning taxes giving money to Church's have y'all been asleep
I want the tea party to die off...but they are here for the making...of new laws..in the future religious laws....don't think they are asleep...they are the beast that God warns us about..they are Christ like.outwardly..like the scribes and Pharisees ..yes the tea party religious in words..but inside devious as hell
Itiswriiten....look it up if you want truth..google it..or.. the breath of life..or.amazingfacts
So just to be clear, Franklin Graham, snake-oil-millionare-neo-fascist, and Benedict, the Nazi Pope, were both essentially telling us to vote the Republican Party line, and we didn't.
Good job, AMERICA!
People, people, people ... God does not concern Himself with the petty affairs, such as politics, of mankind: God is concerned with how we treat each other, how we help (or fail to help) our brothers and sisters (i.e., all other humans), and whether we are true to our commitments to Him. It's the same dude, no matter what whoever calls Him, because there's only ONE. The Rev. Billy Graham has had an amazing ministry, albeit one I didn't subscribe to personally, by "winning" people for Christ - his son, however, doth not speak his father's truths.
How about this? Let's just start by saying that some higher power created all of this Earth, and its creatures (including us), and just for spits and giggles, let's call Him God. Or we could call Jesus something like Mohammed, or Buddha. It's still the same God. If, indeed, we should Love One Another, why are we fighting like this over things that are absolutely irrelevent!??!! God made Obama just like he made Romney and just like he made you and me and everyone else we know. Or know of. Or imagine existing in some far-off land. Or even just admit might exist, someplace else. God did that. Same God, different methods of worshipping Him. As humans, we are so much alike that it pisses us off, because we WANT to be "different" or "special" or "right" ... we're all just the same!
that's right God did not use the scribes and Pharisee..religious god fearing people they were..who had Christ killed.........the same is going to happen when the tea party gets full control...with kindness next election..then there wrath of god next..on Earth not Gods wrath but there's
hey tea party let God take care of our sins not you...he will also take care of your sins..not me
where does it say ..for you tea party fake Christians.to change the constitution of America in the bible
God does not say worry about some atheist or Muslim...in the end times he warns us of you fake Christians..getting power in the end times and using his name...like Fox news does to help get it done..help get them voted in..so called Christ like people in office..or you can say ..scribes and Pharisees teachers of law..but don't do it
You have to understand that all the media chose their favorite guy and promoted him. All of them are hypocrites and all of us are if we don't follow the Lord's commandments and choose to force people to do what we want.
floridamom1,
Great satire, but Christ said, "Judge not, lest ye be judged."
Our Lord's Commandment's are simple: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind", before also referring to a second commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself".
All the rest may be fine rules, but Christ said that he came (the first time) to overturn the old rules, and these (the Two Great Commandments) were the rules for his followers. The Ten Commandments (the basis of Mosaic law) were used by early institutional (State) religious orders as a means to civil law. Other Judaic law gave basis to the treatment of women as chattel (despite the fact that Egyptian law, Greek law, and Roman law presented women many inalienable rights, such as land and chattel ownership, marrige rights, and abuse protection). Oddly, as institutionally (state) established Christian faith spread from post-Constantine Rome, the rights of women were submerged into a singlular reference of Christ's view of marriage (which conveniently forgets that the man must also submit to his wife to form a true partnership). Other relationships were not mentioned, not because they were not known, but only because they were politically unpopular. Homosexuality (male or female) as an acknowledged state not only interfered with a state policy of breeding citizens (and soldiers for the empire), but also the recreation and dowry system of the ruling class. And nearly 2000 years later we cling to a system that said sellimg women and children into slavery or splecialized sex slavery was fine, but adult relationships are decadent and damned?