Political Commentator E.J. Dionne Discusses Role of Religion in 2024 Election

E.J. Dionne ’73, political commentator and senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, emphasized the importance of using nuance to discuss the role of religion in the 2024 election during a Thursday talk with Carleigh Beriont, Assistant Director for Undergraduate Studies for the Committee on the Study of Religions.

The conversation, which focused on the role of religious narratives in politics and the 2024 presidential election, is the first in a series of talks sponsored by the Committee on the Study of Religions with funding from the division of Arts and Humanities.

“What we’re hoping is to have scholarly, meaningful conversations about current events involving religion,” Catherine A. Brekus ’85, chair of the Committee of the Study of Religion, said. “So we are bringing people with a lot of knowledge who can help us understand longer histories and place our current events in a longer historical context.”

Dionne and Beriont began their conversation by discussing the voting patterns between different religious groups in the 2024 presidential election. Dionne highlighted the differences between various groups, calling attention to white evangelical Protestants — the majority of whom voted for Donald Trump — and religiously unaffiliated people, who mostly voted for Kamala Harris.

The speakers also sought to address the nuances of the division, beyond what the voting division in the presidential election.

“We have to talk about evangelicals in all of their diversity, including about 20 to 25 percent of white evangelicals who are moderate to progressive,” Dionne said. He also mentioned the importance of addressing the political role of non-white evangelicals.

After the conversation, attendees expressed their appreciation for the nuances that Dionne and Beriont brought to the topic.

“I think a lot of people mischaracterize white evangelical sentiments, and what drives a lot of white evangelicals to vote the way that they do,” Tyler A. Heaton ’25 said in an interview after the event.

“I thought the talk was uniquely attentive,” he added.

Adrian R. Scully ’25, who attended the event, also said he “appreciated how nuanced it was.”

“I think that what Carly and E.J. did that was really impressive is diving into the narratives behind those stories, and not just explaining the statistics, but explaining how we got to those statistics,” he added.

Dionne also noted the lack of a “strong religious narrative” in the 2024 election, comparing it to the importance of religion during the 2000s presidential elections.

“This election was so much more about very secular issues, obviously prices and immigration in particular, and about attitudes toward the Biden presidency, and on the Democratic side, attitudes toward Donald Trump,” he said.

Dionne closed the talk by highlighting the importance of democracy, and said that the country is “in a very dangerous time after this election.”

“It will be important to stand up for democracy, and it will be important to stand up for a particular kind of democracy and liberal democracy that supports individual rights, that supports freedom of the press and assembly and all the other rights, that supports minorities and minority rights,” Dionne added.

— Staff Writer Sebastian B. Connolly can be reached at sebastian.connolly@thecrimson.com and on X @SebastianC4784.
— Staff Writer Julia A. Karabolli can be reached at julia.karabolli@thecrimson.com.