Addressing Our Bipartisan Crisis of Connection

In an op-ed published at The Messenger, PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman, Ph.D., uses PRRI data to examine the negative consequences of loneliness for the health of our democracy, especially among members of Gen Z who report increasing dissatisfaction with neighborhood connections. For Gen Z and other generations, PRRI datafinds a positive correlation between satisfaction with neighborhood connections and belief that Americans can work across party lines to address the nation’s challenges. Deckman writes that in the age of social media and increasing political polarization, fostering connections is critical for rebuilding trust in each other and in our institutions.

How Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Is Taking Over the Republican Party

While former President Donald Trump faces condemnation for his rhetoric about immigrants, David Smith writes for The Guardian that senior Republicans are refraining from criticizing Trump’s language to avoid alienating the Republican base. Smith notes that more than 7 in 10 Republicans (72%) say newcomers are a threat, compared with a far lower percentage of independents (43%) and Democrats (21%), according to PRRI. Additionally, at Axios, Russell Contreras writes about the racist and antisemitic history of the phrase “poisoning the blood of our country.” As PRRI Founder and President Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., told Contreras, the phrase evokes Nazi rhetoric as well as an old racist ideology that the Americas were designated by God as a “promised land” for European Christians.

DeSantis, Trump Court Iowa’s Evangelical Voters, Promising Christian-Focused Policy

Looking at how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former President Trump, and other candidates have been trying to court evangelical voters in Iowa and across the country, Oren Oppenheim at ABC News examinesthe influence of religion in the GOP primary. Outside of evangelical voters, however, PRRI Public Fellow Allyson Shortle, Ph.D., told ABC News that how candidates present their positions may also be appealing to those who express Christian nationalist ideas. The 2020 PRRI Census of American Religion found that the median age of white evangelical Protestants is 56, older than the median ages of all Americans (47) and all white Christians (53).

Mainline Protestant Clergy’s Support for LGBTQ Rights Has Grown

Compared with their evangelical counterparts, mainline Protestants are significantly more supportive of LGBTQ rights, writes PRRI Public Fellow Suzanna Krivulskaya, Ph.D., in a recent Spotlight Analysis. The increase in support can be attributed in part to the influence of mainline Protestant clergy, 79% of whom support same-sex marriage, who are increasingly talking about LGBTQ discrimination from the pulpit. PRRI data finds that mainline Protestant clergy are even more supportive of LGBTQ+ rights than their parishioners.