Missouri Advocates Launch Campaign To Restore Abortion Access in the State

Grace Panetta at The 19th News reports that a coalition of abortion rights advocates in Missouri are launching a campaign to pass a constitutional amendment legalizing abortion up to the point of fetal viability. The group will need to gather at least 171,000 signatures in order to get the amendment on the November ballot. Meanwhile, a separate group, the Missouri Women and Family Research Fund, led by a former GOP staffer, is also gathering signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize abortion through the first 12 weeks of pregnancy with limited exceptions. PRRI research finds that 59% of Missourians believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

Trump’s Angry Rant About His Legal Mess Reveals an Ugly MAGA Truth

The New Republic’s Greg Sargent writes that as Donald Trump’s legal defense argues for immunity from prosecution for crimes because he was in office, he is also declaring his intentions to act outside the boundaries of the law during a second presidential term. PRRI president and founder Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., stated that “large percentages of Trump voters and Republicans today now understand their political opponents as enemies of the country. Everything is on the table when you conceive of political struggle this way.” PRRI data shows that a surprisingly large percentage of voters who view Trump favorably say things have gotten so bad that political violence is justified and that we need a leader to break rules to set things right.

The Deification of Donald Trump Poses Questions

At The New York Times, Thomas B. Edsall examines Trump’s evolution into a “Jesus-like” figure among some of his most loyal followers and its implications for U.S. politics. As PRRI founder and president Robert P. Jones explained, white evangelicals’ “enduring support for Trump tells us more about who they see themselves to be than who they think Trump is… The primary force animating white evangelical Protestant politics — one that has been with us since before the founding of the Republic — is the vision of America as a nation primarily of, by and for white Christians.” As the 2023 PRRI American Values Survey found, 56% of white evangelical Protestants, compared to only one-third of all Americans, believe God intended America to be a new promised land for European Christians.

Inside New Hampshire: Understanding Partisanship, Religious Affiliation, and Religious Diversity Across the State

A new Spotlight Analysis looks at key facts about New Hampshirites ahead of Tuesday’s primary. With a median age of 52, nearly half of adults in New Hampshire identify as politically independent (47%), compared to 28% who identify as Republican and 17% who identify as Democrat. According to the PRRI Census of American Religion, while religiously unaffiliated Americans make up 27% of the U.S. population, they account for 34% of New Hampshirites; the three counties with the highest concentration of religiously unaffiliated Americans in New Hampshire are Grafton County (42%), Merrimack County (39%), and Carroll County (39%).