Poll: Majority of Americans Support Preserving Confederate History
Russell Contreras at Axios analyzes the findings of PRRI’s latest report, “Creating More Inclusive Public Spaces Two Years Later,” which examines American attitudes about the monuments and memorialization of the Confederacy. The report, which was released with E Pluribus Unum, finds that Americans are divided over preserving the legacy and monuments of the Confederacy, particularly by party, race, and age. Notably, the survey finds that independents are more likely to support efforts to preserve the Confederacy now (52%), than they were two years ago (46%). Read the full report here.
The Corporate Pullback on Pride Month, Explained
Vox’s Li Zhou compares various corporations’ responses to the conservative backlash against Pride Month marketing. Marketing experts suggest that some companies have scaled back their messaging, offered less merchandise, or, as reported by the Associated Press, completely eliminated any trace of Pride. However, a 2024 survey of Fortune 500 leaders found that 78% of companies didn’t intend to change their Pride Month approaches. PRRI data finds that a clear majority of Americans (76%) support LGBTQ nondiscrimination policies in 2023, a slight decrease from 80% who said the same in 2022.
Guess Who’s Footing the Bill for Faith-Based Schools?
At Bloomberg Opinion, Mary Ellen Klas describes the decades-long effort by conservatives to defund public schools by redirecting support to private, religious schools. In Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed a budget that creates the largest statewide voucher program nationwide, with $3 billion for parents to spend at non-public schools. Klas writes that these schools lack oversight and their instruction could veer into advancing a preferred, government-sponsored religion. PRRI research finds that Republicans (55%) are more than twice as likely as independents (25%) and three times as likely as Democrats (16%) to hold Christian nationalist views.
Honoring Juneteenth Among Calls for “Racial Reconciliation”
In a new Spotlight Analysis, PRRI Public Fellow Dara Coleby Delgado, Ph.D., explores Americans’ attitudes toward racial justice and what Black American Christian identities tell us about the importance of Juneteenth. Noting that PRRI’s 2023 American Values Survey finds white Christians are more likely than other religious groups to disagree that ‘generations of slavery and discrimination have given white people unfair economic advantages,’ Delgado writes that “Juneteenth’s liberationist ethos is emblematic of why Black religious institutions, especially the Black church, still exist as distinct repositories of Black culture, expression, and resilience.” Meanwhile, PRRI President and Founder Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., invites readers to embrace the days between Juneteenth and Independence Day as a “season of critical patriotism” at his #WhiteTooLong Substack.
