Evangelical group knocks on 8M doors ahead of election, predicts 'historic' Christian voter turnout
An Evangelical advocacy group has reached out to a record number of voters ahead of the presidential election as its leader remains confident that faith-based voters will turn out in “historic numbers” this year.
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” said FFC leader and founder Ralph Reed in the statement shared with The Christian Post. “It is greater than we saw in 2016 or 2020.”
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“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.”
Reed added that he believes "reports of the inadequacy of the conservative ground game in 2024 are greatly exaggerated.”
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.
While Reed remains optimistic about efforts to target voters of faith and pro-life advocates ahead of the election, others are insisting that churches and faith-based outreach groups have more work to do.
Craig Huey, a researcher who has written a book titled The Christian Voter: How to Vote For, Not Against, Your Values to Transform Culture and Politics, told CP in an interview earlier this month that “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.”
In a phone call with reporters earlier this month, Reed disputed the narrative that efforts to reach out to faith-based voters are lackluster, buoyed by a report from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University estimating that 32 million self-identified Christians plan to sit out the 2024 election.
“It doesn’t really comport with what we’re seeing on the ground,” Reed explained. “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.”
Trump and Harris remain close in the polls in the states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which have a combined 93 Electoral College votes.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
