Eric Church Explains Why He Didn’t Vote in 2016 Presidential Election

Eric Church has never been one to shy away from speaking his mind, even if his opinions aren’t popular. But when the 2016 Presidential elections rolled around, pitting current President Donald Trump and former First Lady Hillary Clinton against each other, the “Desperate Man” singer quietly bowed out.

“Hillary just bored me,” Church tells Rolling Stone. “I just didn’t see much.”

Church adds that his wife, Katherine, voted for Trump, and tried to convince her husband to do the same, but he declined.

“Ain’t gonna happen,” adds Church. “I don’t want to vote for somebody I’ll regret voting for.”

Church, who admits he voted for President George Bush in 2004 and President Barack Obama in 2008, also did not vote in 2012, although for different reasons.

“I met him once,” Church says of Obama. “Found him nothing but great.”

The 41-year-old says that if Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders had made it into the final two in contention for the country’s highest honor, he might have thought a little harder about casting his ballot.

“I love Bernie,” Church says. “Bernie had a great message. It’s funny: If it had been Bernie versus Trump, I don’t know what I would’ve done. I would’ve at least thought about it more than I did.”

Although the North Carolina native didn’t vote for Trump, he acknowledges that he’s unsure how he feels about the current POTUS.

“I’m conflicted,” concedes Church. “I like that he’s thrown a monkey wrench into things. I think that chaos is good. I enjoyed the North Korea thing. Why haven’t we talked to that guy? Tariffs, I don’t know yet. I don’t want a trade war, but I’ll walk with him down that road a little farther.”

Still, Church isn’t ready to get a Trump bumper sticker on any of his vehicles.

“I have a ton of problems with him,” he adds. “I don’t like the racial overtones. I hate the tweeting. It seems insecure, petty, not presidential.”

One thing Church isn’t conflicted about is the recent immigration issue, when children were separated from their parents. Although a law has since been passed requiring families to be reunited, the entire situation does not sit well with Church.

“I’ll tell you what I’m against,” says the singer-songwriter. “You never separate kids from their families. Never, ever, ever. You want to deport them, deport them. But this is wrong. It’s horrific. It’s child abuse, as far as I can tell. When I see a crying kid separated from their parents, I don’t give a sh–– what you have to say. No f–––ing chance.”

Church has a large collection of guns, for which he makes no apologies. But when gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, only two days after Church performed, he became outspoken about the need for some form of reform.

“I’m a Second Amendment guy,” he maintains. “That’s in the Constitution, it’s people’s right, and I don’t believe it’s negotiable. But nobody should have that many guns and that much ammunition and we don’t know about it. Something’s gotta be done so that a person can’t have an armory and pin down a Las Vegas SWAT team for six minutes. That’s f—ed up.”

Church just announced his next album, Desperate Man, will be released on October 5. It is currently available for pre-order at EricChurch.com.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Tim Mosenfelder