No one has racked up more frequent flyer miles these last few months than Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). The GOP leader has been on a grueling trek across the country, working his hardest to drum up support for conservative candidates in the last lap before Election Day. Like a lot of people, one of his biggest frustrations this campaign season is the flood of pessimistic headlines about his party’s chances. “I am traveling the country nonstop,” he insisted to Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, and the media is “grossly underestimating Republican enthusiasm around the country.”
Enthusiasm. It’s one of the biggest buzzwords of every election cycle. And no wonder. Plenty of good money is spent trying to take Americans’ temperature. Pollsters and strategists huddle over numbers every day trying to decipher what a stew of approval ratings, generic ballots, voting intentions, and historical patterns mean. But at the end of the day, those mathematical formulas and speculation all pale in comparison to the secret weapon of both parties: action.
A poll, after all, is only as good as voters’ follow-through — a point that Johnson and President Trump are trying to drive home in the 20-plus states they’re blazing through in the lead-up to next Tuesday. Who’s excited to vote and by what degree would be a great statistic, if statistics voted. What matters is actually getting people off the couch to cast a ballot — something 30 million evangelicals can’t find the motivation to do each and every election.
“That could make a big difference in these ballot measures, particularly on pro-life issues,” The Washington Stand’s Mark Tapscott insisted on TWS’s “Outstanding” podcast. “It would be defining,” TWS host Casey Harper agreed. “Absolutely. It would change the voting equation,” Tapscott nodded. “So, here we are saying it again: Christians get out and vote. It’s important.”
And not just important, but country-defining. “If the broad center-right goes to the polls — MAGA supporters, traditional Republicans, conservative-leaning independents, and thinking Democrats — the GOP has a fighting chance to disprove the experts, win skintight races, and even keep Congress,” National Review’s Deroy Murdock urged. “This is a challenge, but within reach.”
Right now, the Democrats’ biggest (perceived) advantage is the number of people who say they will definitely vote. Most of these double-digit leads for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s (R-N.Y.) party are based on men and women who refuse to be unheard. What a national embarrassment that so many Christians and conservatives, who claim to be the proudest of America, would even consider sitting this midterm out.
On the generic ballot, Murdock points out, Democrats lead by 12% among those who are voting no matter what.
“Republicans enjoy a 16-point edge with respondents who probably will vote and are 22 points ahead with those who just say ‘No’ to voting this time. While this sounds like curtains for the GOP, it confirms enormous potential — if Republican candidates, officials, and activists can energize these individuals and steer them into the voting booths.”
That means, Murdock extrapolates, “The Republicans have the advantage with those who are not sure they’re going to be voting right now. So, the more Republicans succeed in expanding the electorate there, they might be able to bring that generic ballot down some. Conservative leaders must spend every moment between now and Election Night transforming this untapped GOP resource into actual votes.”
But frankly, the GOP shouldn’t have to work so hard to convince people to exercise the power given to them by generations of patriots. It’s pitiful that anyone, let alone believers tasked by Jesus with civic engagement, can come up with any excuse not to participate in this process. We can be frustrated with Donald Trump — angry even — over some of his bone-headed decisions and rhetoric. We can be impatient with the glacial speed of Congress and disillusioned by the grandstanding and divisions and spending. But let’s be honest. The situation isn’t going to get better with a different party in charge. If you think the Iran war is expensive, wait until you see the socialists’ agenda.
Mad about gas prices? Well, guess what — staying home or voting for Jeffries’s party isn’t going to magically lessen your pain at the pump. “Remember,” Johnson told Ingraham, “The Democrats’ goal was to ban fossil fuels. Biden said that, and they worked towards that, and they brought us to $5 gasoline in the last administration — intentionally! Not because of the unintended consequences of a war overseas, but because they shut down production and exploration and exports.”
Upset over the cost-of-living? America had 9% inflation under Biden and congressional Democrats. But do you know what we don’t have on top of today’s prices? Migrant caravans crossing into our country every week. Men in skirts working for our nuclear program and at the highest levels of our health care. Federal agents arresting pro-lifers at gunpoint. Involved parents labeled as “domestic terrorists.” Taxpayer-funded gender reassignments and abortion. Boys in girls’ locker rooms across the country. Streets and neighborhoods that were unsafe to walk at night. A weak, P.C. military that couldn’t meet recruiting goals, let alone our global crises. Banks that refused, with the White House’s encouragement, to serve conservatives. A government that persecuted Christians and censored speech.
We don’t have to guess what’s in store for our nation if the church decides its voice in these midterms is optional. We’ve lived it. And it will only get worse.
“Everybody, please mark my words. In the next two years, in the years ahead, we are not going to be in Washington having traditional arguments, as we used to, about marginal tax rates and shades of regulation, slight differences in foreign policy,” Johnson implored. “We are now engaged in an open battle to save the Republic against people who have open disdain for the founding principles of America. That’s where we are. And it happens on the 250th anniversary of our nation in November of 2026, in a midterm election, [that] we have to decide which road we’re going to go down. I believe the American people are going to make the right choice. I don’t think they are on board with Marxist, communist, radical Islamists joining together, rioting in the streets of Europe. That’s what they want to do here, if they’re allowed.”
“The radical element, the insurgent Left, the far-left Marxist ideology [is] taking over the Democrat[ic] Party. There will be a small group of them elected to Congress because they’ve already won the Democrat[ic] primaries in certain places around the country. They’re going to have a huge, outsized influence upon the Democrat[ic] leadership in the House and the Senate, because they will leverage that to make them do and say and commit to crazy things,” he warned. “You’re already seeing lots of news articles written about this. There’s a coming civil war in the Democrat[ic] Party. It’s just beneath the surface at the moment. But right after the election, that’s what happens. That’s why every single vote for people who love America [matters]. Understand that we’re the last stronghold of freedom. And if you believe in common sense, if you want America to continue on a trajectory of growth and expansion and strength, you have to vote for Republicans for Congress. We have to be able to outnumber this radical element. It is a very, very serious concern we have right now.”
This is an imperfect process. No candidate is flawless. No political party is going to make us happy or fulfilled or even live up to their promises, necessarily. They aren’t Jesus to us, and they were never meant to be. But that’s no excuse to throw up our hands and abandon the ground that’s been won for us. So turn off your TV, log off social media, stop wringing your hands about the bogus polling, and get out and vote. Because what comes next is on us.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared at The Washington Stand.
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