What we have here are two New York Times political stories that really needed input from (a) the religion-news desk, (b) polling experts who “get religion” or (c) both.
Both of these important reports are, to use GetReligion-speak, haunted by “religion ghosts.” If you look at them through the lens of politics, alone, then you won’t “get” what is happening with millions of voters who don’t want to vote for Donald Trump in 2020, but believe that they will have no choice but to do just that.
The headline on one story states: “Trump Pushes Young Republicans Away. Abortion Pulls Them Back.”
Oh my. I wonder if religious convictions might have something to do with this? You think?
So let’s do some familiar searches in this text. How about “church”? Zip. Maybe “God”? Zero. Surely “religion” or “religious” will show up? Nyet. How about “Christian”? Nope.
That’s strange. Look at this summary material and I think you will sense the ghost that is present.
Like millennials, who are now in their mid-20s to 30s, members of Generation Z — born after 1996 — tend to lean left. But there are still plenty of young Republicans, and the generational divide that is so apparent between younger and older Democrats is no less present on the other side of the aisle. It’s just less visible.
In interviews with two dozen Republicans ages 18 to 23, almost all of them, while expressing fundamentally conservative views, identified at least one major issue on which they disagreed with the party line. But more often than not, they said one issue kept them committed to the party: abortion.
While polling shows an age gap in opinions on abortion, it is smaller than the gaps on some other issues, and researchers say that for people who oppose abortion, that opposition has become more central to their political choices.
Even as young Republicans often accept the science of climate change and support L.G.B.T. rights, abortion remains a powerful force pulling them toward the Republican Party — and toward President Trump, whom many of them dislike.
Now, there may be some secular libertarians in that mix. But how does the world’s most influential newspaper take on that issue without looking for a religion angle?
Here’s another chunk of that same story:
Harvard University’s annual survey of 18- to 29-year-olds found in March that, while 82 percent of Republicans in that age group said they would vote for Mr. Trump over Joseph R. Biden Jr., only 30 percent were closely aligned with Mr. Trump based on an ideology and values questionnaire.
“What that is essentially telling me is there is a fissure within the Republican Party,” said John Della Volpe, polling director at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, who oversees the survey. In contrast to Republicans at large, who polls show overwhelmingly support Mr. Trump, a significant share of young Republicans “aren’t aligning,” Mr. Della Volpe said. “They don’t have the same values as the Trump base.”
Want to bet that this is trend is linked to the under covered divide at the heart of that simplistic myth — you know the statistic — that there is a great white-evangelical monolith that just loves Trump? Maybe this story is another sign (click here for more info) that many of these voters actually want another option that fits with their beliefs on the sanctity of life, religious liberty and other core issues?
This brings us to another interesting Gray Lady report, with this headline: “Trump Is Courting Black Voters. His Failures on the Virus Are a Problem.”
Now, the COVID-19 angle is certainly valid and worthy of coverage (and there are strong religion angles there, too). But does anyone have a suspicion that anyone searching for the small choir of African-American Trump voters (8% in 2016) should seek out people who frequent church pews?
So let’s search this second story for “church,” “God,” “Christian” or “religion”/”religious.” Same results.
Really now? Has anyone studied photos and videos of events at the Trump White House that are linked to moral and social issues? How about events focusing on black voters?
What we get, once again, is an important story seen through a very narrow lens. Here’s the overture:
Since he took office, President Trump and his advisers have made a show of trying to chip away at the overwhelming support that Democrats enjoyed from black voters in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Even as Mr. Trump himself has offended people with language widely seen as racist, like telling four congresswomen of color to “go back” to countries where they came from (three of them were born in the United States), his campaign poured $10 million into a Super Bowl ad featuring a black woman and highlighting the administration’s efforts on criminal justice reform.
Trump advisers held events at the White House celebrating Mr. Trump’s support for historically black colleges. The advisers sought to turn the low unemployment rate into a selling point to African-American voters, claiming they had more opportunities for jobs with higher wages. And most recently, the president’s re-election campaign has been holding weekly online gatherings titled “Black Voices for Trump” where African-American surrogates advertise his record.
All of that is valid. However, I suspect that issues linked to religious faith, morality and culture are in there somewhere. Think “pew gap.”
Just saying. Why will careful readers find the same God-shaped hole in both of these important political-desk stories?