Donald Trump says God put him in the White House.
“I was saved by God to make America great again,” Trump said in his Jan. 20 inaugural address, referring to a failed assassination attempt in July.
Whether God had a hand in Trump’s re-election is a question best left to theologians. What is clear is that Christians, particularly white evangelicals, have overwhelmingly supported the Republican president.
In Canada, the connection between conservative politics and evangelical support is less clear cut, sources say.
“There is a stronger correlation between conservative politics and conservative theology in the US than in Canada,” said Sam Reimer, a sociologist who studies the differences between American and Canadian evangelicals.
Conservative by default
Evangelicals are Christians typically associated with conservative Protestant denominations who emphasize the Bible, caring for others and sharing their beliefs.
Polls from the 2024 US election show 82 per cent of white evangelicals voted for Trump. In 2020, an estimated 76 per cent of white evangelicals voted for him. In 2016, 81 per cent did.
In Canada, the Conservatives today enjoy strong support from Canadian evangelicals.
In a May 2024 Angus Reid poll, 73 per cent of evangelical Christians said they planned to vote for the Conservative Party in the next federal election, versus 43 per cent of the general population.
Rick Hiemstra, director of research for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, says majority support by evangelicals for the Conservatives is relatively new. The fellowship is the largest national organization of evangelicals in Canada.
According to Hiemstra’s research, evangelicals tend to vote like the people who live around them. “Evangelicals in Alberta will vote like Albertans,” he said. “Evangelicals in Ontario will vote like Ontarians.”
The strong association of evangelicals with conservative parties can be traced to the 1990s and early 2000s, he says. Stockwell Day, who led the Canadian Alliance Party from 2000 to 2002 and was seen as a contender for prime minister, was an evangelical. The Liberals attacked Day’s religious beliefs.
“Evangelicals or other religious groups remember those that attack them,” said Hiemstra.
Many evangelicals are drawn to the Conservatives “by default,” says Jonathan Malloy, a political science professor at Carleton University who has studied American and Canadian evangelicals. The Conservatives are more welcoming to people who oppose abortion than the Liberals or the NDP, he says.
But Malloy does not think Canadian evangelicals have strong influence within the Conservative Party in the way their American counterparts have influence in the Republican Party.
“Evangelicals have a presence primarily in the Conservative Party, but it’s a limited presence,” he said. “They certainly don’t control the Conservative Party. And there’s no way they’re going to be controlling the Conservative Party anytime soon.”
Limited clout
One factor explaining Canadian evangelicals’ more limited clout is their size.
In Canada, the most common Christian affiliation is Catholic, with nearly 11 million people. Canadian evangelicals, by contrast, number an estimated 4 million — or about 10 per cent of the population.
Estimates of American evangelicals vary widely. According to one estimate, nearly one-quarter of Americans identified as evangelical Protestants in 2021. A different report pegged the number at 10 per cent of the population — or 25 to 30 million Americans.
Canadian evangelicals’ relatively small size means they often value cooperation between different Christian traditions. They also partner with other religious groups on shared causes, such as religious freedom.
“Canadian evangelicals are just more likely to accept that they’re a minority and they have a minority status and a quieter voice in Canada than American evangelicals are willing to accept at this point,” said Reimer, who teaches sociology at Crandall University, a Christian university in Moncton, N.B.
They also are more varied in their political outlook.
While American and Canadian evangelicals both generally oppose abortion and same-sex marriage, American evangelicals typically lean conservative on a host of political and economic issues, says Malloy.
“American evangelicals tend to be right-wing politically across the board,” he said. “In Canada, evangelicals tend to be a little more varied, more heterogeneous in their political views.”
Reimer agrees. Canadian evangelicals are more likely than American evangelicals to support political issues like poverty reduction or reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
“[Canadians are] much more likely to embrace the issues on the [political] left and not be simply about the ‘hot’ American issues of abortion and LGBTQ-related sexuality,” he said.
Rev. David Wells notices this difference in his work with churches in Canada and the US. Wells oversees the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of North America, which encourages churches to work together on projects of shared interest.
He has noticed American evangelicals’ main political interests are often about abortion or sexuality and gender.
In his view, Christian beliefs should influence what Christians think about these issues. But Christian beliefs should also lead to care for the environment, says Wells, who is also general superintendent of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, a Canadian denomination with more than 1,100 churches.
These concerns do not all easily align with one specific political party, he says. Christian members of Canada’s Green Party have helped him understand how Christians can care for the environment.
James Seward, an American who pastored in Ontario from 2014 to 2023, says another difference between Canadian and American evangelicals is how Canadians express their disagreements.
“When proper process is followed and communication was clear, there is a general trust for the authority,” said Seward. He remembers being amazed by how civil Canadian congregants were while discussing contentious topics at denominational meetings.
“That’s not been my experience where I’ve lived in the United States,” said Seward, who pastored in Texas and Illinois before coming to Ontario. “Even if you do follow proper process and communicate clearly, if there’s disagreements on things, they’re more likely going to become contentious, and there’s more likely going to be a distrust of authority.”
Seward, who says he likes debate, says his time in Canada made him more eager to focus on the areas where he agrees with his opponents — and not just emphasize differences. “That’s been a helpful corrective to me,” he said.
Seward also knows of many American churches that use sermons to endorse political candidates, for both the Republican and Democratic parties.
“Canadian churches are much less political, and I think most Canadians are glad for that,” he said.
But Reimer says it is inevitable that American evangelism influences Canadian evangelism in some respects.
“Considering the size and the media power of evangelicals in the US, it’s unlikely to think that some of that isn’t going to have influence in Canada,” he said.
However, he thinks many Canadian evangelicals want to distance themselves from American evangelicals.
“Part of Canadian identity is that [Canadians] are not Americans, and many Canadians still wish to distinguish themselves from American influences and politics,” says Reimer. “We can assume that Canadian evangelicals will continue to want to remain distinct from American evangelicals and the stereotypes that shape them, including the stereotypes that evangelicals are Trump supporters.”
The United Church of Canada, the Anglican church of Canada, and the Presbyterian Church of Canada, estimated to represent a total of 7% of the population, are social justice churches. The United Church, for example, boldly welcomes LGBTQ2+ members and ministers. These are Protestant churches that are not evangelical.