This Is the Democrats’ Best Shot in 2024. And They Are Spending Like Crazy on It.
At The New York Times, Lakshya Jain and Harrison Lavelle report that since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Democrats have significantly increased spending on abortion-related ads, a strategy they are heavily relying on to motivate their base and appeal to swing voters in battleground states. While past election outcomes demonstrate the effectiveness of this strategy for Democrats, Republicans have yet to introduce an effective counter strategy that responds to Democratic messaging, which paints GOP candidates as extreme on abortion issues. PRRI research finds that two-thirds (64%) of residents in battleground states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
White Evangelical Christians Are Some of Israel’s Biggest Supporters. Why?
On the newest episode of NPR’s Code Switch podcast, PRRI President and Founder Robert P. Jones, Ph.D. joined Gene Demby in examining the relationship between white evangelical Christians and their support for Israel, focusing on the history of prominent Christian figures leading biblical site tours to Israel that have strengthened white Christians’ connection with the country. While white evangelical Christians make up only 14% of the U.S. population, they hold significant influence within the Republican party, and are driven by theological, prophetic beliefs about Israel’s restoration. As Jones explained, this notion is “borrowed from a kind of Zionist idea, but with white Christians seeing themselves as the proper final inheritors of those promises and being the chosen people.” Listen to the full conversation here.
‘Straight-up Theocracy’: At Texas GOP Convention, Republicans Call for Spiritual Warfare
Robert Downen for Salon reports on the Texas GOP 2024 convention where Republicans proposed a series of new policies that would empower a minority of the GOP to block certain candidates from running for office, hinder Democrats from winning statewide positions, and mandate the teaching of the Bible in public schools. American conservative talk radio host and conspiracy theorist, Steven Hotze, lauded the Texas GOP’s increasing embrace of his calls for spiritual warfare against perceived left-wing demonic forces. PRRI research finds that more than half of Republicans adhere to or sympathize with pillars of Christian nationalism, including beliefs that the U.S. should be a strictly Christian nation.
The Convocation Unscripted [S1E2]: Donald J. Trump is a Convicted Felon. Now What?
This week marked the premier of The Convocation, a unique collaborative Substack magazine featuring the work of PRRI President and Founder Robert P. Jones, Ph.D. and Diana Butler Bass, Kristin Du Mez, and Jemar Tisby, all scholars who take their own Christian faith seriously as they consider the future of both democracy and Christianity in the United States. This morning, all four scholars discuss the ramifications of the guilty verdict in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial, marking the first time in American history that a former United States president was convicted of a felony. Watch this special edition of their new podcast, “The Convocation Unscripted,” for their thoughts about this historic moment and its implications for the presidential election and the future.
