Christian Millennials May Not Vote for Conscience' Sake

According to a new Fox News Poll, Donald Trump leads among white voters and men; while Hillary Clinton has a commanding lead among black voters and women.

But where does the youth vote fall? Millennials, 18-34 year olds, now represent 69.2 million voters. A recent Harvard University poll suggests these voters are overwhelmingly backing Clinton.

But beneath the numbers, there's a lot of anger and disappointment. According to experts, that may keep this voting bloc home on election day.

CBN News recently spoke with former Miss America Kirsten Haglund. She says Christian Millennials, especially, tend to feel like this election has come down to simply picking between the lesser of two evils.

"I think what you can say generally is that they are just so disturbed about their choices. I think Millennials are really driven by, you know, they're driven by a sense of apathy about what role, about what difference they can really make and what difference government really makes," Haglund said.

She doesn't expect her generation to turn out like it did in 2008 or 2012, but Christian Millennials may be an exception.

"I believe that Christian Millennials have a deep sense of purpose when it comes to their role in shaping society, when it comes to their role in government and voting and I think they're really driven in that way," she said.

For the Christian Millennials who don't show up, in many cases apathy is not the reason. Rather, they have decided that they cannot, in good conscience, vote for either candidate.

"Martin Luther actually said, when he was asked to recant before the Catholic church, he said 'I will not go against my conscience because to go against conscience is neither right, nor safe.' There's this idea of conscience from antiquity and from history that was much more important than how we consider it today. God has given each one of us a conscience and we have to pay attention to it," Haglund said.

She also challenged Christians, reminding them that their citizenship is first in heaven and that regardless of who the next president is, the Church will continue to make a positive difference.

"In order for the Church to do its work, we don't have to be in political power. That's not the way that this works," she said. "In fact, often the Church has done better when it's persecuted. When you look at the early church and its growth throughout the Roman Empire, it was before Christianity became the national religion of the Roman Empire." 

"The church does well when its persecuted, frankly. We can't always expect to be in power and if we're people of true faith, we know that it's the narrow way. We know that, usually, we're going to be in the minority and the minority voice. And that's okay," Haglund said. "There are ways to affect hearts and minds through the church and through the community that aren't necessarily through the laws. You can't depend on politics to change the world. The gospel is what changes people."