Faith Leaders: Evangelicals, Trump, and the 2020 US Elections

One month Twitter mention for key faith leaders

Faith leaders and voters are storming heaven with prayers as the US presidential election remains inconclusive with several states having yet to tabulate all votes. Pro-Trump voters could be seen praying at counting stations while faith leaders have taken to social media to pray for results favouring incumbent Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

The Guardian writes: In 2016, white evangelicals made up a quarter of all US voters. And 81% of them voted for Donald Trump. Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone head to the pivotal battleground state of North Carolina to see if Trump's religious base is showing signs of crumbling. They meet extreme evangelical pastors, travelling progressive preachers and the moral movement leader Rev. William Barber.

Paula White-Cain who is Trump’s special advisor to the Faith and Opportunity Initiative at the Office of Public Liaison has been in the forefront leading prayers for the president. Most recent on Wednesday night, White-Cain called upon ‘angelic reinforcement’ from continents of Africa and South America.

“I hear a sound of victory, the Lord says it is done. For angels have been dispatched from Africa right now… In the name of Jesus from South America, they are coming here,” she said in a video that has since gone viral (see her Twitter mentions shoot up, in our graph above).

The televangelist from Florida was also heard saying that demonic confederacies are attempting to steal the election from Trump. White-Cain, who preaches prosperity theology, was heard speaking in tongues, an occurrence where the speaker speaks in an unknown language during an intense prayer session.

Who’s big on Facebook? Major Trump-associated and/or supporting faith leaders and related pages are shown immediately below. Next is the Facebook posting of Pastor Darrel Scott for a White House invite, and Tweet of an early October prayer session (looks to be in the White House).

From the PolTracker team, 6 Nov 2020

Key faith leaders for Trump

From Facebook of Pastor Darrel Scott

Bruce LeVell Tweet, @Bruce_LeVell Longtime President Donald J Trump Advisor, Senior RNC Media Surrogate……

The Final Countdown: The Eve of the 2020 US Elections

One month of Twitter sentiment on the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates (green is most positive, red is most negative)

Compiled by PolTracker

One month Twitter mention for the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates

Yu Leng

From half way across the world, we're looking at the tea leaves of Twitter mentions. What does it portend for Trump-Pence versus Biden-Harris?

We're used to mass voting on polling day (with very few early voters), but in the US, there has been early and postal voting going on for weeks. Checking in with my US data analytics friend, he had this to say: "Biden has a healthy lead but there is a lot of uncertainty due to a huge increase in postal and early voting by Democrats due to Covid-19 and voter suppression by Republicans."

Sharon

Last election, I had friends who walked around shell-shocked as the results poured in. For days after that, many questioned how did the press not picked up on the sentiment of the voters. They felt that the reporting had all pointed a sure win for Hilary Clinton.

This election is setting up to be another close one as the country is more divisive four years on. Will there be a decisive result on election night or will it take days to announce the winner? If there is a recount, how long will it take?

Nadirah

During the 2016 elections, my then-boss made a RM50 bet with his colleague that Trump would win against Clinton. We half-thought he was joking, so nobody in the office took him (and Trump) seriously.

I mean, yeah, Trump later won and the world got a little darker, but we got treated to ice cream from that well-earned (?) RM50 (I think). Good times.

From a personal point of view, social media for this round of elections seems just as frenzied as four years ago—this time, however, it feels tinged with an edge of desperation. Personalities across all fields have been constantly encouraging their followers to vote, from comedians including Stephen Colbert and Sarah Cooper, to YouTube personalities such as the Try Guys, to artists like Nikkolas Smith and Bianca Xunise. With complications thanks to the pandemic and allegations of voter suppression, though, the million-dollar question is: will it work?

From the PolTracker team, 3 Nov 2020

Ps. Editor: WSJ writes, “3 in 10 — The share of voters who cast their ballots on Election Day rather than by voting early or by mail.”