Religiously unaffiliated voters significantly outnumbered white evangelical Christians in the 2026 midterm electorate, marking a widening demographic divide as Democrats scored substantial victories and Republicans lost control of Congress.
White evangelical or born-again Christians accounted for just 17% of voters Tuesday, down from 23% in the 2024 presidential election and 24% in the 2022 midterm elections, according to preliminary Fox News voter polling.
By comparison, voters who identify with no religious affiliation, commonly known as religious “nones,” made up 27% of the electorate. That figure was up from 24% in 2024.
The growing gap comes as Democrats capitalized on a broad coalition of voters to retake both chambers of Congress, flipping at least seven Senate seats and gaining more than two dozen House districts. Democrats also captured several governorships, including in states that have traditionally favored Republicans.
The changing religious composition of the electorate, however, did not translate into a total collapse of white evangelical support for the GOP.
An overwhelming 82% of white evangelical voters backed Republican House candidates, compared with 84% in 2024 and 83% in 2022. Meanwhile, 78% of religiously unaffiliated voters supported Democrats, up from 70% in the previous presidential election.
The results underscore the growing electoral weight of voters outside traditional religious institutions, even as white evangelicals remain one of the Republican Party’s most dependable constituencies. President Donald Trump’s standing among white evangelicals has also weakened during his second term, according to Pew Research Center polling.
Trump’s approval among white evangelical Protestants fell from 78% in early 2025 to 58% in a survey conducted Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, shortly before the midterm elections. They nevertheless remained the only major religious group analyzed by Pew in which a majority approved of his job performance.
The contrast was particularly stark among religiously unaffiliated people. Just 17% of that group approved of Trump’s performance, while 82% disapproved.
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The declining share of white evangelical voters has not necessarily translated into diminished political influence for the religious Right.
Trump has made religious conservatives a prominent part of his second-term agenda, establishing a White House Faith Office and creating a Justice Department task force to investigate alleged anti-Christian bias. The midterm election results also suggest that the Republican Party’s continued strength among white evangelicals may not be enough to offset Democratic gains among other religious and demographic groups, as well as republicans losing the Latino vote.