'Enjoy the Gulags': Charlie Kirk Sounds Alarm About Conservative Christian Voter Turnout

Christian nationalist activist and right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk interviewed evangelical pollster George Barna on his podcast yesterday about the upcoming presidential election and expressed deep concern about what Barna had to report.

Barna, who serves as a senior fellow at the Family Research Council's Center for Biblical Worldview, specializes in studying what he calls “SAGE Cons” – spiritually active, government-involved conservative Christians – who have traditionally formed the base of the religious community -form right movement.

According to Barna's latest research, overall enthusiasm for the vote fell in the 2024 election, but it fell significantly more among Christians, who would be expected to support Trump if they voted. Tens of millions of Christians, Barna said, simply don't care about politics or don't like the candidates and therefore don't plan to vote.

“In the last election, about 61 percent of voting-age adults voted,” Barna said. “We expect that share to drop from 61 to around 53 to 55 percent in this election.”

“Are evangelicals more behind than other voters?” Kirk wondered. “Because if the enthusiasm of evangelicals declines along with the general population, then it will essentially be a wash?”

“That would be the best scenario at this point,” Barna replied. “Right now we're seeing that people who are committed Christians – biblical Christians, disciples of Jesus, evangelicals, SAGE Cons, the spiritually active government committed conservative Christians – whichever of those segments you want to look at, what we are.” We note “The enthusiasm for this election has dropped by 10 to 25 percentage points.”

“If it was a wash, I wouldn’t be so worried,” Barna added. “That's not it. We are falling to higher levels and that is what is triggering the alarm.”

“If your numbers stay the same and there is no improvement and no wave of enthusiasm, is it fair to say that the stay-at-home Christians will hand the White House to Kamala Harris?” Kirk asked.

“Yes,” Barna replied. “I think that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

“George Barna isn’t just some rando we’re putting up here,” Kirk warned. “This guy has been doing this for 40 years. … How often do we have to emphasize that there are civilizational problems in this regard? When we lose, it is largely because pastors and Christians arrogantly say to God, 'We.' “We don’t care. We are more religious than Donald Trump.”

“I hope you enjoy the gulags,” Kirk concluded.