I Don't Mean To Disparage White Evangelicals, But I Can't Help Myself (2024)

On a wide range of religious, political, and social beliefs, white evangelicals differ sharply from Americans in general and other religious groups, including Catholics, mainline (non-evangelical) Protestants, Jews, those without any religious identity or affiliation, and even Black and Hispanic evangelicals. These strong beliefs are reinforced by dense social ties. Half of white evangelicals attend church at least once a week.

“White evangelicals are self-isolating, because they believe that the rest of the world is evil,” explained Paul Djupe, a political scientist at Denison University in Ohio. “There’s a parallel society among evangelicals that doesn’t intersect with the rest of the world. They not only go to church together. They also go to evangelical plumbers, hair stylists, and others who provide services.“

Being a white evangelical is as much a political identity as a religious one, noted Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University. Sixty percent of white evangelicals today believe that the Republican Party is friendly toward religion, but only 8 percent think that the Democratic Party is on the side of religion.

…According to Burge, white evangelicals are not “reluctant Republicans” who need to be actively recruited to vote and to cast their ballots for GOP candidates. They are “thoroughly Republican.” This trend has intensified since Trump first ran for president in 2015, as white evangelicals increasingly identify with the MAGA movement and its apocalyptic views and racial resentments. This is borne out by numerous social science studies and survey data.

The MAGA world and white evangelicals are tied together by many ultraconservative beliefs, including attitudes about family and gender, that makes them outliers in American society. Black, Hispanic, and Asian evangelicals are more conservative than their non-evangelical counterparts but not as blindly right-wing or pro-Trump as white evangelicals.

More than half (56 percent) of white evangelicals, and a third (34 percent) of all Americans, say that society is better off if people make it a priority to get married and have children. Only 27 percent of white evangelicals believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, the position held by 65 percent of all Americans. Sixty-one percent of white evangelicals, but just 42 percent of all Americans, believe that society has become “too soft and feminine.” White evangelicals are the only religious group in which a majority (74 percent) favor banning the discussion of sexual orientation and/or gender identity in public schools.

Between 2021 and 2023, the share of QAnon believersin American society increased significantly, from 14 percent to 23 percent of all Americans. Even 14 percent of Democrats now embrace this crazy conspiracy theory, along with twice as many (29 percent) Republicans. More white evangelicals (30 percent) embrace QAnon than members of any other group. White evangelicals’ disdain for science is reflected in their views on global warming. While a significant majority (61 percent) of Americans believe that climate change is caused mostly by human activity, such as burning fossil fuels, only 31 percent of white evangelicals share that view. In fact, 19 percent of white evangelicals believe there is no solid evidence of climate change.

…Not surprisingly, white evangelicals view themselves as victims in a culture war that involves religion, politics, race, education, gender roles, economics, and individual liberties. This is compounded by the reality that the number of white Christians has fallen precipitously, from 73 percent of the population in 1972 to 46 percent in 2021. They feel betrayed, and left behind by the major shifts in American society.

Trump is neither religious nor knowledgeable about theology, but he knows how to tap into white evangelicals’ fears of being persecuted and feeling embattled.

“Our country’s gone to hell. As soon as I get back in the Oval Office, I’ll also immediately end the war on Christians. I don’t know if you feel it. You have a war. There’s a war,” said Trump in a speech in Iowa in December. “Under crooked Joe Biden, Christians and Americans of faith are being persecuted and government has been weaponized against religion like never before.”

Like Trump, white evangelicals have a persecution complex. Seventy percent of white evangelicals— though only 47 percent of all Americans— believe that life has become harder in the United States for people with strong religious faith. A 2023 surveyfound that 60 percent of white evangelicals believe they experience a lot of discrimination— up from 42 percent in 2009. In fact, 61 percent of white evangelicals believe that discrimination against white Americans has become as big a problem as discrimination against racial minorities. During that period, meanwhile, the proportion of white evangelicals who think that gays and lesbians face significant discrimination declined from 59 percent to 39 percent.

Seventy-five percent of white evangelicals— but only 44 percent of all Americans— believe that God has granted Americaa special role in human history. But they believe that Democrats and liberals have violated God’s will by moving the country in the wrong direction.

…White evangelicals are the leading proponents of the view that “immigrants are invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background.” Almost four in 10 Americans (38 percent) agree with the statement, but 61 percent of white evangelicals do. Trump, Fox News, and other right-wing media outlets have promoted this view, as did the white supremacists who organized a violent protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Three-quarters (74 percent) of white evangelicals and 77 percent of Republicans support installing deterrents such as walls, floating barriers in rivers, and razor wire to prevent immigrants from entering the country illegally, even if such measures endanger or kill some people. Among Americans in general, 44 percent embrace this policy. Almost four in 10 (39 percent) white evangelicals favor an immigration border policy that separates children from their parents and charges parents as criminals when they enter the country without permission. Fewer than one in four (23 percent) of Americans share this belief.

More white evangelicals express racist views than members of any other religious or demographic group.

…[T]oday almost a quarter of Americans (23 percent) agree that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violencein order to save our country”—an increase from 15 percent in 2021. Among white evangelicals, 31 percent share that view—more than any other religious or demographic group. Support for violence is even higher among white evangelicals who believe the election was stolen. That attitude bore fruit during the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capital.

In this year’s election, Trump is counting on a large turnout of white evangelicals, particularly in battleground states. But the Republicans’ long-term reliance on this group is based on a serious flaw. The number of white evangelical Christians is shrinking, particularly among young people. This is part of a larger trend reflected in the rise in the number of Americans claiming no religious identity or affiliation from 16 percent to 27 percent since 2007. Meanwhile, the proportion of white evangelicals in the population has steadily declined, from 23 percent to 13.6 percent, according to PRRI. Among all religious groups, white evangelicals have the largest proportion over 50 and the fewest adherents under 30.

“The problem the Republican Party has is that it is the party of white Christianity,” said political scientist Ryan Burge, “and that group is declining every day.”