Down the home stretch of the campaign, Donald Trump has doubled down on his message of Christian nationalism and white grievance. While his speeches have indeed become more meandering and more extreme, they nonetheless contain a coherent appeal that taps…
The survey findings keeping me up at night
Like every other high-quality survey, the topline results of PRRI’s American Values Survey shows the presidential election — both at the national level and in the battleground states — as a toss-up. Moreover, the PRRI data generally confirm earlier Pew…
Trump officially disavows Project 2025, but does he reject its vision for America?
The big news today was that Paul Dans, director of “Project 2025: The Presidential Transition Project,” is stepping down from his position at the Heritage Foundation, which spearheaded the project. The policy blueprint and political playbook is publicly supported by…
We can’t let political violence be used to silence concerns about rising political violence
On the flight home from our family vacation on Saturday, my phone lit up with messages about the horrific and thankfully unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Donald Trump at his rally in rural Pennsylvania. In the wake of that awful event,…
What, to the white American, is the 19th of June?
On July 5, 1852, the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester invited Frederick Douglass to give a speech on the 76th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which became known by its central piercing question, “What, to the American slave, is your…
Trump the totem
Last week’s historic verdict is worth rehearsing. On May 30, Donald J. Trump became the first former president to be convicted of a crime. Twelve ordinary citizens unanimously found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in…
Leave it to the states? Five takeaways about abortion attitudes in all 50 states
PRRI, where I serve as president and founder, just released one of the largest surveys ever conducted on abortion attitudes in America. Throughout 2023, PRRI interviewed more than 22,000 adults as part of its American Values Atlas, giving us not…
Understanding America’s overlooked religious middle
In America’s religious landscape, the groups attracting the most public attention are those staking out the poles in our political divides: the shrinking, aging, but still influential group of white evangelicals on the right vs. Black Protestants and the growing…
Trump the blasphemer: During Holy Week, Trump compares himself to Jesus and hawks a white Christian nationalist Bible
For the approximately two-thirds of Americans who identify as Christian, this is Holy Week, a solemn time of participation in worship services that encourage reflection and repentance ahead of the resurrection celebrated on the holiest day on the Christian calendar, Easter…