Most US Republicans sympathetic to Christian nationalism, survey finds
Two-thirds of white evangelicals and most Republicans are sympathetic to Christian nationalism, a new survey has found.
According to a national survey released on Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute and Brookings Institution, 29% of white evangelical Protestants qualify as Christian nationalism adherents while 35% qualify as sympathizers.
Meanwhile, more than half of Republicans are classified as adherents or sympathizers, at 21% and 33% respectively.
The survey also found that Christian nationalism adherents are nearly seven times more likely than non-adherents – 40% vs 16% – to agree that “true patriots might have to resort to violence to save our country”. Among those that support such political violence, 12% indicated that they have personally threatened to use or actually used a gun, knife or other weapon on someone in the past few years.
Additionally, half of Christian nationalism adherents and 38% of sympathizers endorse the idea of an authoritarian leader “who is willing to break some rules if that’s what it takes to set things right”.
In regards to Christian nationalism and other ideologies, 57% of Christian nationalism adherents disagree that white supremacy is a major problem in the country, and 70% reject the idea that historical discrimination contributes to current challenges faced by Black Americans.
Moreover, 71% of Christian nationalism adherents support the so-called “replacement theory” – a racist conspiracy belief that white Americans and Europeans are being deliberately “replaced” by non-white immigrants.
Nearly one-fourth, or 23%, of Christian
nationalism adherents indicated that they believe the stereotype that Jewish people in the United States hold too many positions of power. Meanwhile, 67% of Christian nationalism adherents say that people from some Muslim-majority countries should be banned from entering the US.
Furthermore, 69% of Christian nationalism adherents agree that “in a truly Christian family”, the husband is the household head while his wife submits to his leadership.
The survey comes as the US experiences an increasing number of Americans shifting away from religious affiliations, as well as a declining number of churches across the country. Data released last year by the Pew Research Center found that Christians in the US could be a minority group by 2070.
Nevertheless, there appears to be an growing number of Christian nationalism supporters, especially as farright politicians such as Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Florida governor Ron DeSantis publicly endorse the ideology via comments such as “We should be Christian nationalists” and that Republicans should wear the “full armor of God”.