Why U.S. Support for LGBTQ+ Rights Is Declining After Decades of Support

At PBS NewsHour, correspondent William Brangham interviewed PRRI’s CEO Melissa Deckman, Ph.D., about findings from PRRI’s new LGBTQ report. Deckman explained that following years of increasing support for LGBTQ rights, many Republican leaders in red states have amped up their volume on LGBTQ rights, causing a spillover effect nationally. PRRI data finds support for nondiscrimination protections dropped 4 percentage points among all Americans and opposition to refusing services on religious grounds dropped 5 percentage points between 2022 and 2023. In the past three years, among Republicans aged 18-29, support for same-sex marriage cratered from 64% in 2020 to 49% in 2023.

Latino Evangelical Support for Christian Nationalism Rises as Trump Courts Religious Vote

Lourdes Hurtado at NBC News reportsthat, according to PRRI data on Christian nationalism, Hispanic Protestants were the only religious group to show an increase in support for Christian nationalism from 2022 to 2023. Evangelicals represent a conservative bloc of the Hispanic electorate; among Hispanic Protestants (a group that includes both mainline and evangelical Protestants) Republican party affiliation has more than doubled in the past decade. According to PRRI, there is a strong correlation among white and Hispanic Americans between holding Christian nationalist beliefs and support for former President Donald Trump.

Biden Toughened Asylum Screening. It Won’t Contain a New Border Surge

For The Washington Post, Nick Miroffexamines the steps taken by the Biden administration to address the asylum backlog ahead of a likely increase in migrants arriving at the border this spring. Though President Biden attempted to curb asylum claims, the government’s authority to address the asylum system’s delays — which are widely recognized as a driver of illegal immigration — is limited. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), the lead sponsor of the failed bipartisan border bill, said authorities need tighter rules and more resources to discourage migrants without valid asylum claims from making the journey to the U.S. border. PRRI’s 2023 American Values Surveyfound that less than one-third of Americans (31%) approve of the job that Biden is doing to handle immigration.

WTL Conversations: Robert P. Jones and Rev. Jim Wallis Discuss The False White Gospel

Last week, PRRI president and founder Robert P. Jones. Ph.D., hosted a conversation with Rev. Jim Wallis, Georgetown University’s inaugural holder of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair in Faith and Justice and author of the forthcoming book, The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy. Rev. Wallis shares the reasons why he wrote this latest book and the concepts it covers, including the need for a robust theology of democracy that respects the dignity of every person. During Q&A with the audience, Wallis and Jones address Israel’s actions in Gaza, the possibility of violence on Election Day and beyond, and continued racial segregation in American Churches and communities. Watch their conversation here.