It’s become conventional wisdom for legacy media and their punditocracy to declare that America is “divided” or “polarized,” suggesting that we are evenly split between red and blue; between two political parties and sensibilities. However, as the recently-released 17th American Values survey (a mammoth sampling of 5200 adults) reveals, we have a pro-democracy, reality-based 65 percent (or so) majority, and a discrete radical minority — mostly white Christian nationalists — that holds views the rest of the country find abhorrent. Unfortunately, the latter group dominates one major party and holds disproportionate political power.
PRRI’s survey underscores just how radical the MAGA outlook is. As it explains:
Two-thirds of Americans (68%) say empathy is a foundational moral value that helps build a healthy society, while 27% say it can become dangerous when it leads people away from building a society guided by God’s truth. The vast majority of Democrats (84%) and independents (70%) agree that empathy helps build a healthy society, compared with 54% of Republicans.
• White evangelical Protestants are the only religious group in which a majority does not agree that empathy is a foundational moral value (42%). Instead, a majority (54%) say empathy can be dangerous.
• Views on empathy track closely with Christian nationalism.
That bizarre demonization of a core religious/ethical value may well be the product of a concerted effort to demonize and dehumanize other Americans, rendering acts of violence and cruelty commonplace.
The more intensely people identify with white Christian nationalism, the more empathy-averse they seem to be. “The survey also finds that skepticism about the social value of empathy is strong among Christian nationalism Adherents. Six in ten Adherents (60%) believe empathy can become dangerous when it leads people away from building a society guided on God’s truth, with half (50%) strongly agreeing with the statement. By contrast, nearly all Christian nationalism Rejecters (94%) say empathy is a foundational moral value for a healthy society, compared with 76% of Skeptics, 52% of Sympathizers, and 38% of Adherents.”
While this has serious political ramifications, for many Christians this is theologically horrifying. “As Christian nationalist leaders attack the sentiment of empathy, a disturbing ‘empathy gap’ has opened, separating Republicans and white evangelicals from most other Americans,” PRRI President and Founder Robert P. Jones, Ph.D. observed in a press release accompanying the survey. “Such orchestrated attacks are typical of violent authoritarian movements and should be disturbing to all who care about the moral foundations of our pluralistic democracy.”
That twisted mindset has led MAGA followers to cheerlead for treatment of immigrants that smacks of fascism. The survey found that “most Republicans and at least half of white evangelical Protestants support detaining undocumented immigrants in internment camps (62% and 53%) and stripping U.S. citizens of their citizenship and deporting them if they are determined to be a threat to the country (57% and 50%).” The numbers are stark and shocking:
White evangelical Protestants (53%) are the only religious group where the majority agree with placing undocumented immigrants into internment camps until they can be deported. …
Most Christian nationalism Adherents (62%) and Sympathizers (51%) agree that undocumented immigrants should be placed in internment camps, compared with 32% of Skeptics and only 11% of Rejecters.
The MAGA cohort has been indoctrinated by the great replacement theory. “White evangelical Protestants (61%) are the only religious group where the majority agree that immigrants are invading the country,” the survey found. “Less than half of white Catholics (47%) and white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (44%) agree with the great replacement theory, as well as less than four in ten Latter-day Saints (39%), around three in ten Jewish Americans (34%), Hispanic Protestants (29%), and members of other non-Christian religions (28%), less than one-quarter of Black Protestants (23%) and religiously unaffiliated Americans (23%), and only 16% of Hispanic Catholics.”
The mindset has made this group of Americans insular and fearful. Majorities of Americans trust someone of another religion (74 percent) or those born outside the U.S. (72 percent). However, “Republicans are about twice as likely as Democrats to say they do not trust people born outside the U.S. (30% vs. 16%).” They are also less likely to trust those who practice another religion than independents and Democrats are.
The good news is that most Americans have recoiled against a cruel, xenophobic movement. “Nearly half of Americans (48%) say the MAGA movement poses a serious threat to the country, compared with 36% who say the same of Democratic Socialists of America,” the survey found. “Favorable views of the MAGA movement have slipped from 35% in March 2024 to 31% today, driven by declines among independents and Democrats. Republican views (72% favorable) have held steady.” Interestingly, “Half of Americans ages 18-29 and 30-49 (50% each) say the MAGA movement’s policies pose a serious threat to the country, as do 48% ages 65 and older — compared with fewer, 42%, ages 50-64.”
The rise of the MAGA movement has sullied the image of the Republican Party, its wholly owned subsidiary. “Around one-third of Americans (34%) hold favorable views of the Republican Party, while a majority (59%) view it unfavorably. Favorability for the Republican Party has declined since PRRI first asked this question in 2012 (44%).” Moreover, in the last 15 years, “favorable views of the Republican Party have declined among independents (43% to 28%) and Democrats (11% to 6%), while Republicans’ favorability has also dropped, from 86% to 80%.”
We should properly see MAGA as a movement of, by, and for white Christian nationalists:
White evangelical Protestants are the only religious group among whom a majority view the MAGA movement favorably (61%)…. Among Americans who have heard of the term “Christian nationalism,” one-third hold a favorable view of the term (32%), compared to 63% who hold an unfavorable view. Two-thirds of Republicans who have heard of Christian nationalism hold a favorable view of the term (65%), compared with 28% of independents, and 13% of Democrats. These views have remained stable since 2022.
While they may not be a majority and may be alienating the rest of the country, a paranoid, xenophobic, religious nationalist cult at odds with fundamental values like empathy and antagonistic toward mainstream positions on a host of issues represents a deep challenge for democracy, especially in a system in which gerrymandering and undemocratic institutions (e.g., the Senate, a MAGA-dominated Supreme Court) hold disproportionate power.
However, cracks in the cult are appearing (e.g., massive decline in Trump’s and Republican Party support, substantial disaffection among Hispanic voters who say they are twice as likely to regret their vote as other Trump supporters, plummeting support for ICE, even among white Christian groups). This data suggests that factors such as political failure, popular outrage, and the implosion of a cult figurehead erode support for the movement.
Ultimately, however, any religious or spiritual reformation of that segment of Americans will need to come from within — from those who reconsider whether they can abide by its twisted outlook. Regardless, the rest of the country must find common ground among shared values (e.g., empathy, inclusion) if our democracy is to survive.
We will work and hope for the best. But the “heart of darkness “ revealed during the Trump presidency is a stain on our country. Taking away healthcare, putting immigrants into concentration camps, attempting to stop citizens from voting, turning ICE into a police state organization, putting Putin above the people of Ukraine- this cannot be whitewashed.
They used to be called Fundamentalists, until people started to look at them unfavorably. They were re-branded as Evangelicals, but it's the same credulous, emotion-driven crowd.