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Religious Groups Working to Improve Voter Turnout for Midterm Elections

Gary Nguyen · Oct 9, 2018 · 3 min read

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Anti-Trump Groups on Bus Tour for Midterm Elections
By Michael Vadon [CC BY-SA 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons
Anti-Trump Groups on Bus Tour for Midterm Elections
By Michael Vadon [CC BY-SA 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons
Republicans, in turn, are aware of Democrats’ latching up to their promotional methods.

When it comes to shepherding the religious towards the voting booths, President Donald J. Trump of the United States is an expert. He has prayed with evangelicals inside the White House and kowtowed to their wish of moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. For conservative Republicans, Trump is virtually a representative of God.

Religious Groups Working to Improve Voter Turnout for Midterm Elections[/tweetthis]

Democrats have wisened up. Evangelical Christians opposing the Republican brand of piety have begun a bus tour crisscrossing the United States. Their only aim right now is to dislodge the GOP vice grip over Congress in the 2018 midterm elections. The anti-Trump movement is being pushed by the belief that GOP lawmakers did not advocate for basic Christian values. The bus tour nicknamed "Vote Common Good" will touch over 30 congressional districts. All these districts have one thing in common: Democratic challengers to these Republican-held seats have a fair chance of winning.

One good example of a Democratic rallying point is the campus of the Virginia Theological Seminary. The 1823 era institution recently played host to a get-out-the-vote event. Rachel Holm, the registrar of the seminary, tried her best to underline the importance of such midterm elections to a young crowd in their 20s and 30s. To make the topic interesting, she spiced up her speech with election trivia. She asked the crowd what millennial voters think about when they vote. Her audience promptly shouted back "themselves" as the answer. Holm then educates them about the procedure to vote in the state. When questioned, she said that she understood the conservative Republican camp was a well-organized and primed one.

Republicans, in turn, are aware of Democrats' latching up to their promotional methods. President Trump has repeatedly warned his core base (and anyone willing to listen to him) that in case of Democrat victory, all policies brought on by the government will come to naught. He even warned that Democrats would reverse the change through violent and quick means. Many conservatives have expressed concern with abortion legislation and to any service provider who can deny services on matters of same-sex marriage or non-mainstream sexuality. For many conservative voters, the rallying point is the Johnson Amendment repeal. This amendment is a legal provision in local tax code forbidding any kind of non-profits like faith groups from any opposing or endorsing political candidates.

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