Around elections, we often hear variations of the claim that “democracy itself is on the ballot.” Because this declaration is, in some sense, a truism, it’s easy to nod and dismiss its concrete claims. But in the current context, this…
Once again, white evangelicals are outliers on beliefs about race and American history
White evangelicals are much more likely than other U.S. adults to believe white Americans face as much discrimination as Blacks and other people of color, Public Religion Research Institute found in its recently released 2022 American Values Survey. A smaller…
PRRI’s new national survey shows chasm between Americans growing wider
Few would be surprised to learn that the latest American Values Survey shows Americans moving increasingly apart on issues such as race, sexuality, politics, immigration, democracy and the overall state and direction of the nation. Even so, Robert P. Jones,…
It’s not your imagination: Polling data confirm conservatives’ flip on morality in candidates, and Herschel Walker is Exhibit B
That conservative evangelicals appear to be turning a blind eye to Herschel Walker’s documented moral failures illustrates the flip-flop on valuing moral behavior found within the Republican Party over the past 20 years, according to research by journalist Aaron Blake…
PRRI’s Structural Racism Index attempts to quantify racist beliefs
How do you measure racism? In the contemporary American battleground of politics, culture and religion, people often call out others for being racist, and those accused often reply, “I’m not a racist.” Still others proudly wear the label “racist” as…
On question of what to do with Confederate monuments, Americans are all over the map
While Americans are nearly evenly divided on whether monuments and memorials to the Confederacy should stay up or be taken down, there is even less agreement about what should be done with those monuments, according to new polling data from…
As the Confederate monuments come tumbling down, half of Americans still favor their presence
It’s no news flash that the presence — or sudden absence — of memorials to the Confederacy is a symbol of America’s divided politics today. Yet a new national study by Public Religion Research Institute puts some hard numbers on…
Avoiding the conversation about white supremacy in churches is dangerous, Jones warns
White Christians have a moral obligation to address the white supremacy that has historically infused and still permeates American Christianity, Robert P. Jones said during a recent lecture to the Chautauqua Institution. “Refusing to address this sinister disorder in our…
Vaccine hesitancy is not a matter of doctrine, but for some it remains a matter of faith
One-fifth of the United States population remains unvaccinated against COVID-19, and one-third are not fully vaccinated. The gap between the vaccinated and unvaccinated remains for much the same reason that has been true from the beginning: Those least likely to…
What the curious history of ‘Judeo-Christian’ can teach us about defeating white Christian nationalism today
The hearings conducted by the House Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol have highlighted the powerful role that white Christian nationalism played in the attack on the Capitol. The Congressional Committee featured Trump ally…
Supreme Court’s abortion ruling ignites the center and left as single-issue voters now
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June reversal of Roe v. Wade, Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to say they will support only those political candidates who share their stance on abortion, according to a recent poll by Public…
Initial results of PRRI poll show CBF members score significantly lower on Racism Index than other Americans
Christians who attend Cooperative Baptist Fellowship churches are significantly less racist than most Americans and even less so than Catholics and other Protestants, according to a soon-to-be released survey conducted for the Fellowship by Public Religion Research Institute. PRRI found…