Christian Nationalism and Election Denial

Christian nationalism and election denial became closely connected subjects in scholarship, polling, journalism, and public debate following the 2020 United States presidential election. The research collected on this topic examines how beliefs about the United States as a distinctively Christian nation can intersect with distrust of elections, allegations of widespread voter fraud, resistance to political defeat, conspiracy theories, authoritarian attitudes, and support for efforts to overturn election results.

The relationship is not presented in the research as applying uniformly to Christians, evangelical Protestants, conservatives, or people who favor a public role for religion. Researchers generally distinguish Christian nationalism as a political and cultural ideology from Christianity itself, ordinary patriotism, religious conservatism, and conventional Christian political participation. Several Christian organizations and evangelical writers represented in the source material likewise reject Christian nationalism or dispute how broadly the term should be applied.

The events surrounding the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol became an important case study for examining these relationships.

Election Denial and Voter-Fraud Beliefs

A major theme in the research is the relationship between Christian-nationalist attitudes and beliefs about election legitimacy. Survey studies conducted before and after the 2020 election have examined perceptions of voter fraud, voter suppression, voting access, confidence in election administration, and acceptance of election results.

Research by Samuel Perry, Andrew Whitehead, Joshua Grubbs, and others found an association between stronger Christian-nationalist beliefs and the perception that voter fraud was widespread. Their research also examined attitudes toward voter suppression and policies that could restrict participation in elections.

Public Religion Research Institute surveys conducted after the 2020 election similarly found substantial differences among respondents classified according to levels of Christian-nationalist belief. PRRI's surveys reported that people categorized as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers were considerably more likely than Skeptics or Rejecters to agree with claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Donald Trump.

These findings form part of a broader body of research investigating how perceptions of national identity, religious identity, political partisanship, racial and demographic change, and distrust of institutions can influence attitudes toward democratic participation.

Other surveys provide important context. Pew Research Center studies show that support for describing the United States as a "Christian nation" encompasses people with substantially different understandings of what that phrase means. Broad cultural identification with Christianity therefore should not automatically be treated as equivalent to the more specific ideology measured in Christian-nationalism research.

January 6 and the Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election

The January 6 attack on the United States Capitol became one of the most extensively studied episodes connecting Christian nationalism with election denial.

Academic researchers Miles Armaly, David Buckley, and Adam Enders examined the relationship among Christian nationalism, conspiracy beliefs, racial identity, perceived victimhood, and support for the Capitol attack. Their research suggests that Christian nationalism operated alongside other political and social attitudes rather than as an isolated explanation for support for January 6.

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the Freedom From Religion Foundation produced a detailed report documenting Christian symbols, prayers, organizations, rallies, religious language, and political activity associated with the mobilization preceding January 6. Expert statements later submitted to the House January 6 Committee examined similar themes.

Religious imagery at the Capitol included crosses, Christian flags, prayer circles, biblical references, and other symbols. Researchers caution, however, that the presence of Christian symbols does not establish that Christianity generally supported the attack. Instead, their analysis focuses on the particular combination of Christianity, nationalism, claims about divine national purpose, election grievances, and partisan political identity that appeared within some movements involved in the events.

January 6 also generated a backlash against Christian nationalism. Subsequent research has examined whether highly visible religious-nationalist imagery associated with the Capitol attack caused some Americans to distance themselves from particular political movements, religious identities, or partisan affiliations.

Stop the Steal, the Jericho March, and Religious Mobilization

The development of election denial did not begin on January 6. Religious and political organizing took place throughout the period between the November 2020 election and congressional certification of the Electoral College vote.

One significant movement was the Jericho March, which combined prayer rallies with efforts to challenge the certified election result. Participants gathered in Washington and state capitals while organizers and speakers promoted claims about election fraud and called for intervention to prevent or reverse Joe Biden's victory.

The movement drew on the biblical story of the Israelites marching around Jericho before the city's walls collapsed. For some participants, this symbolism transformed the election dispute into a spiritual struggle in which prayer and divine intervention might alter political events.

Reporting from December 2020 and early January 2021 documented overlaps among Jericho March organizers, Stop the Steal activists, conservative Christian leaders, election-fraud claims, conspiracy narratives, and political figures seeking to prevent certification of the election.

These gatherings helped establish a religious framework through which some participants understood the election dispute.

Prophecy, Spiritual Warfare, and the New Apostolic Reformation

Another recurring theme in the source material concerns charismatic Christian prophecy and spiritual-warfare teachings.

Some charismatic leaders had publicly predicted that Donald Trump would win reelection. After the certified election results showed Joe Biden winning, some continued to maintain that Trump would remain president or that supernatural intervention could reverse the outcome.

For followers who regarded such predictions as divinely inspired, accepting Trump's defeat could involve more than acknowledging an unfavorable political result. It could also create a religious dilemma concerning prophecy, divine authority, and the interpretation of political events.

Researchers and journalists have particularly examined networks associated with the New Apostolic Reformation, a loosely organized charismatic movement whose leaders sometimes emphasize apostles, prophets, spiritual warfare, and the transformation of social institutions.

Some NAR-associated activists participated in post-election prayer campaigns and demonstrations. The "Appeal to Heaven" flag, which has historic origins predating modern Christian nationalism, also became associated with some contemporary spiritual-warfare and election-denial movements.

The source material therefore suggests that Christian nationalism alone does not describe every religious current involved in post-2020 election activism. Christian nationalism, charismatic prophecy, the New Apostolic Reformation, QAnon, partisan politics, and other movements sometimes intersected while remaining analytically distinct.

Conspiracy Beliefs, Authoritarianism, and Political Violence

Research on election denial frequently places Christian nationalism within a broader network of attitudes involving conspiracy beliefs, perceived cultural threat, authoritarianism, and political violence.

Studies have found associations between Christian-nationalist beliefs and generalized conspiracy thinking. This relationship is especially relevant to election denial because allegations of secret conspiracies involving voting machines, election workers, government officials, or political opponents became central to efforts to challenge the 2020 result.

Researchers have also examined whether Christian nationalism is associated with acceptance of political leaders who disregard established democratic procedures. PRRI research on Christian nationalism and authoritarianism has compared attitudes toward political violence, strong executive authority, and willingness to tolerate departures from democratic norms.

Academic research on January 6 further suggests that perceived victimhood can play an important role. People who believe that their religious, racial, cultural, or national group is losing its rightful social position may become more receptive to narratives portraying ordinary political defeat as illegitimate dispossession.

This does not mean Christian nationalism necessarily produces violence or that all people holding Christian-nationalist views endorse undemocratic actions. Rather, the research investigates statistical relationships among several overlapping attitudes and political identities.

ReAwaken America and Post-2020 Election Activism

Election-denial activism continued after January 6 through political rallies, candidate recruitment, local organizing, media networks, and touring events.

The ReAwaken America Tour became one of the most visible examples. Events combined Christian worship, political speeches, conspiracy claims, election-fraud allegations, and appeals to spiritual warfare.

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn became a central figure in this movement. Investigations by the Associated Press and FRONTLINE documented Flynn's efforts to build a political network involving activists and candidates who promoted Christian-nationalist themes or questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

The movement also sought to move election-related activism into state and local politics. Candidates associated with election denial ran for offices overseeing elections, state governments, school boards, and other institutions.

Pennsylvania politician Doug Mastriano became another frequently discussed example. Reporting examined his participation in Stop the Steal activities, religious-nationalist rhetoric, involvement in efforts challenging Pennsylvania's 2020 election result, and subsequent campaign for governor.

These developments illustrate how election denial evolved from an immediate effort to overturn the 2020 result into a continuing political movement concerned with elections, government institutions, education, and national identity.

Christian Opposition and Competing Interpretations

Christian responses to election denial and Christian nationalism have been diverse.

Hundreds of evangelical leaders publicly condemned Christian nationalism following January 6. The Christians Against Christian Nationalism movement similarly argues that merging Christianity with national political identity distorts Christian faith and can threaten religious freedom and democratic pluralism.

Christian writers including Paul Miller, Russell Moore, and others have distinguished Christianity and patriotism from Christian nationalism. Some election officials and Christian civic groups have also attempted to rebuild confidence in election administration and respond to unsupported allegations of widespread fraud.

At the same time, some conservative Christians argue that the term "Christian nationalism" is sometimes applied too broadly. They contend that support for traditional religious values, public expressions of Christianity, conservative political participation, or belief in America's religious heritage should not automatically be classified as Christian nationalism.

This disagreement makes definitions important. Academic researchers generally use survey questions and specific ideological measures rather than simply identifying Christian nationalism with evangelical Christianity or conservative voting.

Christian Nationalism and Democratic Legitimacy

Election denial raises a broader question about democratic legitimacy: whether political opponents and electoral losses are regarded as legitimate parts of democratic competition.

Democratic government depends on political groups accepting the possibility of losing elections while continuing to compete through established institutions. Election challenges and legal disputes are normal elements of democratic systems, but sustained rejection of certified results after available legal processes have failed can undermine confidence in elections and political institutions.

Research on Christian nationalism examines whether beliefs about divine national purpose can complicate this process. If political authority is understood as divinely ordained for a particular religious or cultural group, losing political power may be interpreted not simply as electoral defeat but as the illegitimate displacement of a rightful national identity.

This framework helps explain scholarly interest in the relationship among Christian nationalism, voter-fraud beliefs, conspiracy theories, authoritarian attitudes, and election denial.

At the same time, Christian-nationalism measures do not describe all religious conservatives, Trump voters, Republicans, evangelical Protestants, or people who believe Christianity influenced American history. The research emphasizes varying degrees of belief and substantial differences within religious and political groups.

Conclusion

The research on Christian nationalism and election denial identifies an important intersection among religion, national identity, partisan politics, conspiracy beliefs, and attitudes toward democratic legitimacy.

Survey research has repeatedly found associations between stronger Christian-nationalist beliefs and greater acceptance of claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen or affected by widespread fraud. Research on January 6 further identifies relationships among Christian nationalism, conspiracy thinking, perceived victimhood, racial and cultural identity, and support for political violence.

The period between the 2020 election and January 6 demonstrated how these ideas could become part of organized political and religious mobilization through Stop the Steal rallies, Jericho March events, charismatic prophecy, spiritual-warfare networks, and efforts to influence certification of the election.

After January 6, many of these themes continued through organizations and movements such as ReAwaken America and through candidates who questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election. At the same time, numerous Christian leaders and organizations publicly rejected both election denial and Christian nationalism, arguing that Christianity should not be identified with a particular political movement or claim to national power.

Taken together, the material shows that the relationship between Christian nationalism and election denial is best understood not as a claim about Christianity as a whole, but as the study of a particular political-religious ideology and its interaction with election legitimacy, national identity, conspiracy narratives, and democratic institutions.