An increasing number of Americans consider Donald Trump a threat to democracy and even more believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction, according to a new study by Public Religion Research Institute.
PRRI’s 17th annual American Values Survey, conducted in conjunction with the Brookings Institution, found 58% of U.S. adults believe “President Trump is a potentially dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy.” That was up from 52% who held that view in March 2025 and far outstripped the 37% who said Trump “is a strong leader who should be given the power he needs to restore America’s greatness.”
Partisan answers to the questions fell along predictable lines, with 90% of Democrats seeing Trump as a dictator, up from 87% in March, and 77% of Republicans believing him to be a strong leader, down from 81% in March. But the share of independents who consider Trump a danger to democracy jumped from 56% to 64% in that span.
Among religious groups, white evangelical Christians continue to stand alone, with an overwhelming majority (65%) who consider Trump to be a strong leader, down from 73%. The president’s favorability rating also is highest among white evangelicals (66%), compared to 49% of white Catholics and 46% of white Mainline Protestants.
Evangelicals still support Trump
Trump’s support among evangelicals is resilient, PRRI President Robert P. Jones said during a summary of the report presented Oct. 20 at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
Robert P. Jones
“White evangelical Protestants, his strongest defenders who voted eight-to-10 for him every time he’s been on the ballot, even after a nearly 10-point drop, they’re still overwhelmingly with the president.”
But Trump’s approval among Latino Protestants has plummeted since 2024, from 51% to 31%. Jones said that’s an important shift for a demographic that previously supported Trump at the ballot box.
“This is a group that has historically voted for Trump about six in 10 every time he has been on the ballot,” Jones said. “Latino Catholics tend to vote about seven in 10 Democrat, but Latino Protestants tend to vote Republican, and now 62% of Latino Protestants are saying they are more likely to agree with the statement that Trump is a potentially dangerous dictator.”
Belief that Trump is a strong leader, on the other hand, fell across all faith groups, including from 56% to 52% among white Catholics and 54% to 48% among white Mainline Protestants. On the other hand, 80% of Black Protestants, 75% of the religiously unaffiliated, 71% of Hispanic Catholics and 64% of Jewish Americans said the president is a threat to democracy.
PRRI also found declining support for the MAGA movement, with favorable views declining from 45% in 2024 to 25% this year. In addition, 48% of respondents said the movement “poses a serious threat” to the nation.
‘Darkening mood’
Jones noted the title of the study —”Darkening Mood and Shifting Political Loyalties Ahead of Midterm Elections” — reflects in part the finding that 71% of Americans said the U.S. is “going in the wrong direction” as a nation while 76% said the same about the economy. That’s compared to last year when 62% said the country was moving in the wrong direction and 65% were pessimistic about the economy.
Even Republicans have become gloomier since Trump took office in 2025, PRRI found. The share of Republicans who agreed the country is headed in the wrong direction made “a dramatic shift” from 24% last year to 43%, and those who said the economy is headed the wrong way increased from 29% to 52%.
Majorities of Americans rated increases in the cost of living (61%), electing leaders of strong moral character (59%) and health care (53%) as critical issues of concern.
“Republicans who hold favorable views of Trump are less likely than those who hold unfavorable views to say that electing leaders of good moral character is a critical issue (51% vs 62%),” the PRRI report says.
Views on immigration
Another critical issue for some Americans is immigration, with 59% in favor of granting immigrants in the country illegally a path to citizenship if they meet certain requirements.
“At the same time, majorities of Republicans and white evangelical Protestants support detaining undocumented immigrants in internment camps (62% and 53%),” the report says.
Majorities of faith groups support granting citizenship to undocumented immigrants, including 77% of Hispanic Catholics, 73% of Black Protestants, 70% of Hispanic Protestants and 68% of religiously unaffiliated Americans. Smaller majorities of support were found among both white Mainline Protestants (55%) and members of non-Christian traditions, white Catholics and Jewish Americans (54%), and Latter-day Saints (50%).
“White evangelical Protestants (44%) are the only religious group without majority support” for a path to citizenship, according to the report. “Support among white evangelical Protestants for identifying and deporting undocumented immigrants has trended upward over the past decade, from 30% in 2013, to a peak at 53% in 2024, and down to 47% in 2026.”
Views on empathy
PRRI also delved into an increasingly threatening issue for white evangelicals and Christian nationalists: empathy.
“What is more important for this election is what we have dubbed the ‘empathy gap.’ So many of you may have seen that there are a number of books out now attacking empathy as a sin, as suicidal, as toxic,” Jones explained. “This is actually happening, particularly in evangelical circles.”
When asked if empathy is a threat or a benefit to the country, 69% of Americans described it as a “foundational moral value that helps build a healthy society,” while 27% said empathy “can become dangerous when it leads people away from building a society guided by God’s truth.”
Two-thirds or more of religious groups other than white evangelicals hold a positive view of empathy.
But among white evangelicals, 54% said empathy is dangerous when it leads people away from God’s truth.
As a whole, the study’s findings don’t bode well for the Trump administration at the ballot box, said PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman.
“The coalition that put Donald Trump back in the White House is breaking apart, with 76% of Americans saying the economy is on the wrong track. His 2024 gains are clearly not a long-term realignment, as we see Black, Hispanic and young male voters moving back to Democrats.”