Why the Swing State Faith Voters Who Really Matter in 2024 Aren’t Evangelicals
Bob Smietana and Jack Jenkins at the Religion News Service break down key battleground states’ religious and political demographics, explaining why Catholics, mainline and Black Protestants have the ability to decide this year’s presidential election. While white evangelicals’ and Christian nationalism supporters’ influence has been a major point of concern, those groups have yet to garner the influence or the numbers to outweigh other religious factions in battleground states. Religious leaders in swing states are urging their faith community to get out to vote this year, to ensure their interests are represented. PRRI data finds that around one in five (21%) Americans attend religious services at least a few times a year.
The GOP’s Sudden Turn Away From Gay Rights and Acceptance
Aaron Blake at The Washington Post examines the steady increase in acceptance of LGBTQ Americans in the last ten years, and the recent reversal of that trend. PRRI data show a decline in support for same-sex marriage among Republicans from 50% in 2020 to 47% in 2023, which is still significantly higher than support in 2014 at 35%. While the GOP seems to have once accepted the change in public opinion and decreased their attacks on LGBTQ rights, the new decline correlates with increasing attacks from the right on social issues. PRRI data finds that 38% of young Americans say they will only vote for a candidate who shares their views on LGBTQ rights.
After Taking Part in Apache Ceremonies, Their School Expelled Them for Satanic Activities
Nicolle Okoren for The Guardian reports on the enduring Christian influence on the Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona, where churches on the reservation equate traditional Apache ceremonies to devil worship and one private school founded by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod expels students who participate in their tribe’s traditional dances. PRRI President and Founder Robert P. Jones, Ph.D. told Okoren: “[T]he posture being described comes from this conviction that European Christianity is the pinnacle of human civilization… most white Christian denominations in this country have hardly begun to reckon with how white supremacy has become deeply embedded in our faith.
Americans’ View on the 2024 Election
Ahead of tomorrow’s presidential debate, a new Spotlight Analysisreviews Americans’ attitudes about the 2024 election. According to PRRI’s 2023 American Values Survey, three-fourths of Americans (75%) say the future of American democracy is at stake in the 2024 presidential election. While Americans overall are most likely to say increasing costs of housing and everyday expenses (62%) is a critical issue, two-thirds of Democrats rate climate change and access to guns and gun safety as critical issues (both 66%) while the next highest issue of concern among Republicans is what children are learning in public schools (59%). Furthermore, 57% of Americans say that the reelection of Donald Trump poses a threat to American democracy and way of life, while 53% say the same about the reelection of Joe Biden.
