Robert P. Jones on 2022 PRRI American Values Survey: White Christian Nationalist Beliefs Now Affirmed by Half of Republicans and Half of White Evangelicals

Robert P. Jones explains the significance of key findings of the latest American Values Survey, released this past week by his PRRI group: 

First he notes that, by a margin of two to one, Americans reject the proposition that "God intended America to be a new promised land where European Christians could create a society that would be an example to the rest of the world."

However, as he adds, "that still leaves nearly one third of the country affirming this core tenet of white Christian nationalism." Then he states, 

Moreover, white Christian nationalist beliefs are now affirmed by half of Republicans and half of white evangelical Christians. There is also clear evidence that these views are being driven by conservative television news. Those who most trust far right television media outlets like One American News/Newsmax (66%) or Fox News (54%) are much more likely than those who do not watch television news (29%) or most trust mainstream media sources (24%) to agree that God intended America to be a new promised land for European Christians.

Belief in this tenet of white Christian nationalism is positively and strongly correlated with belief in conspiracy theories like “the Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Trump and the QAnon belief that the government and other areas of society are being controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles (yes, we actually asked that in a survey question, an indication of the unhinged nature of our current political and cultural climate).

In addition, 

[T]hose who believe God intended America to be a new promised land for European Christians are more than twice as likely as those who disagree to say true American patriots may have to resort to violence; among white Americans, those affirming this tenet of white Christian nationalism are four times as likely as those who disagree to believe that our political differences may need to be solved not at the ballot box but by violence.

Finally, 

The 2022 American Values Survey also confirmed that a denial of the existence of structural racism has become a defining feature of the Republican Party, consistent with findings from the Structural Racism Index developed in White Too Long. ...

Additionally, two thirds of Republicans believe that white people are as likely as people of color to be victims of discrimination today, and overwhelming numbers of Republicans reject the idea that past discrimination has an impact on racial inequalities in the present.

While white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants and white Catholics are more divided on these questions, white evangelicals—who comprise about one third of the GOP—are closely aligned with Republican attitudes here.

For more on this year's PRRI American Values Survey, see the video at the top of the posting, featuring a presentation of the results of the survey by PRRI with a panel discussion. (If the video doesn't play inn the blog's window, click the YouTube label in the lower right corner of the video and it will open in YouTube and play for you.)