Who Should I Vote For?

The US midterm elections have put politics back on the horizon not only in the States, but for many Christians worldwide, due to the global influence of American politics. Increasing controversy about whether a Christian can "vote Republican" or "vote Democrat"—or abstain—has made many people seek a deeper source for their political views than taking sides in the partisanship that is tearing the Western world in two. In this article you will not learn which political party you should vote for: instead, you will find foundations for a biblical approach to political engagement.¹

Voting as Service

Matthew 20:25-28

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

According to this passage, the world’s way of doing politics is to seize the advantage by any means possible. It is the way of "might makes right," the way of power, domination, and control. This makes society into a brutal hierarchy where it’s great to be on top and it sucks to be at the bottom, where the rich and the powerful keep themselves in power by crushing any opposition. When Christians have taken this attitude they have turned politics into a power struggle similar to a crusade, seeking dominion so they can impose a Christian worldview on everybody by force.

But Jesus says that his followers should have service, not domination, as their goal. A good political leader, then, is one who seeks the wellbeing and flourishing of the whole community, not only his or her supporters. That is quite different to a politics where whoever wins looks out for their own and uses their power to squash other ways of life and perspectives.

But you do not have to be a politician for this to be relevant. Regardless of who you vote for, the very act of voting is a way of serving your neighbour. Voting means you are not “lording it over” people, trying to dominate or seize control by force, by violence, or by subjugating, exiling, or eliminating your opponents. Instead, voting means submitting to the democratic system, accepting whatever the outcome is even if it is not what you wanted. Voting means letting the people as a whole decide what they want, instead of deciding what you think is best for them on their behalf.

Bad Reasons to Vote

Voting, then, is already an act of service. But let us go further and ask what criteria should guide a Christian’s vote. I will not focus on specific hot-topic issues, but on the deeper-level motivations that guide our attitude to everything, including the hot-topic issues. Let us begin with two reasons not to vote.

Fear. Fear is the most effective way that bad people can manipulate you and make you vote for them. If they can make you afraid and then promise you security, you’ll vote for them no matter what. So they need to make you believe that the nation is on the brink of catastrophe: immigration out of control, house prices soaring, crime through the roof, a healthcare system about to collapse, morality in a tailspin, and only voting for me can save you, so put your trust in me.

But the Bible’s most frequent command is “do not be afraid.”² Fear has never been a motivator of wise, just, and righteous action. Fear draws our attention away from the poor and needy towards our own plight. Fear makes us strike back with a self-protective instinct. When we are afraid, we feel justified in putting our own needs and priorities first. Violent behaviour is labelled “self-defence,” cutting aid budgets is labelled prudence, and refusing admission to refugees who have lost everything and are fleeing persecution is seen as the only sane course of action to preserve our cultural values. Fear gives us the most powerful excuse to seek our own advantage without feeling guilty for doing so.

Self-interest. Many people vote for the party they think will serve their own tribe the best. Someone who works in the military will vote for the party that gives the most money to the military. A university student will vote for the party that promises to finance students and universities. Someone in public service will vote for the party that promises not to cut public services. The problem with self-interested voting is that it doesn’t ask—or even think about—whether these things are actually the best for everyone, for the country, or whether they establish justice and peace. It only cares that they benefit me personally.

Voting for the Kingdom of God

What, then, should motivate your vote? In sum, you should vote for the policies and politicians who you think will bring justice, peace, and flourishing to your nation and through your nation to the world. The Catholic tradition refers to this as “the common good”—meaning the good, not only of all human beings, but of all creation.

When Jesus gave his first sermon and announced his ministry, he characterized it by quoting from the book of Isaiah:

Luke 4:18-19

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

This passage describes what Jesus has come to do, at least in part. We tend to think that Jesus came to die to save us from our sins, and that is true. But if that was all he came to do, he could have done it immediately without spending three years travelling, speaking, and healing. Nor should we imagine that Jesus’ earthly ministry had a separate purpose to his death. Jesus’ death and resurrection are the culmination, the capstone of a lifelong goal to restore the whole world to the peace and justice that God intended for it.

What is the context of Jesus’ mission? How should we best understand it?

The world is broken and hurting because of sin. One of the main consequences of sin is structural injustice in the way human beings are organized. The strong prevail over the weak. Some are born into privilege and power; others are born into poverty and disgrace. The dice are loaded in favour of some and against others. If you are born into a wealthy Western nation, you are far more likely to have a comfortable life, being well-fed, well-clothed, well-housed, and in a well-paid job, than if you are born into a country like Burundi or Nigeria. But even within each nation, if you are born to working-class parents who can’t afford to send you to private school, so you go to a public school where you are one of 30 or more students of a teacher who neither knows nor likes you, your chances of success by the world’s standards are minimal. Everyone knows that Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and the elite universities are made up mostly of students who went to private schools. It’s not that those students are naturally more gifted, but they have had every advantage and untold sums of money have been poured into their training and education.

With a few exceptions, the poor are not poor because they are lazy or because they don’t work hard enough. They are poor, usually, because their parents were poor. Likewise, the rich are not normally rich because they are hard-working, but because they are born into wealth or at least have connections to people in positions of power who can give them opportunity.

But Jesus says that he is good news for the poor and freedom for those who are oppressed. He comes to bring justice. He does that by founding a community—the church—who will bring about that justice in his name.

Bad News for the Winners

Justice, then, according to Jesus, is good news for the poor and oppressed, for the disadvantaged and marginalized. Justice is good news, in other words, for those who are harmed by the imbalances in society. What, then, about those who benefit from the injustices in the world? Injustice means that wealth and opportunity are not equally distributed. What about those who get more than they should, who are the winners of the unjust system? Jesus answers that question in the beatitudes as recorded in Luke’s gospel:

Luke 6:20-21,24-25

Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.

But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.

Jesus comes to bring a great rebalancing that restores justice to an unjust society. We call Jesus’ message the gospel, which means “good news.” And while it is undoubtedly good news for every individual soul, it is not necessarily good news for your bank account, your social status, or your comfort. If you are one of the beneficiaries of the injustices in the world, the kingdom of God will be bad news from a worldly perspective, as Jesus makes clear in his list of woes.

All of this means that sometimes, as a Christian, you have to be a turkey voting for Christmas. You will have to vote for policies that might hurt you financially, or damage your privilege and opportunity in favour of others, but that bring about greater justice and peace to the nation and through the nation to the world.

Not against flesh and blood

A final word. If you get involved in politics you will quickly be drawn into a battleground which can be brutal, bloodthirsty, merciless, and polarizing. Worldly politics is all about discrediting your opponent so people will vote for you. The Western world is currently undergoing a polarization that threatens to tear society apart and shut down real dialogue. Both sides demonize their opposition to the point where they are seen as the true enemy to be defeated. In this context, we should remember the words of Paul:

Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

The ultimate enemy is spiritual, and that means you can never point to any human individual, organization, political party, or nation as the real problem. The opposing political party is not your true enemy. The opposing political party is made up of ordinary human beings, just like the party you support. They have families, desires, fears, longings, and hopes, and they have done and continue to do some good things and some bad things, just like you.

Our task as Christians is to have the maturity to look beyond partisan politics, to acknowledge what is good and what is bad in every political party, and to restore genuine respectful dialogue between opposing positions—dialogue that is open to being wrong, open to changing its mind, and open to learning and growing, incorporating ideas from the opposition to get closer to the truth. That is how Christians can be like yeast that transforms the world of politics from a battleground into an instrument of justice and peace.

Footnotes

This article assumes, without arguing, that Christians ought to be involved in secular politics. To make the case for that would be another article entirely.
Reference 1 ↩︎
Not the most frequent phrase, as clarified by Dan McLellan. See Is “Do Not Be Afraid” the Most Common Biblical Phrase?, 2026, 04:38.
Reference 2 ↩︎