Unchurched Christian Nationalism and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

Abstract

<p>Prior research found that Christian nationalism was strongly associated with voting for Trump in 2016. But its effects may depend on involvement in a religious group. We assess whether the association between Christian nationalism and Trump support differed for churchgoers and non-churchgoers. We find that Christian nationalism is associated with Trump support among non-churchgoers, but not among churchgoers. For many in the electorate, Christian nationalism’s role in Trump voting was contingent on being unchurched. These results suggest that while religion remains a key driver of political attitudes and behavior in the U.S., its effects may have less to do with embeddedness in traditional religious organizations than the ways people use religious narratives in everyday life to construct and defend symbolic boundaries. At a time when fewer Americans attend religious services, religious narratives may have their strongest political effects when they are detached from religious institutions.</p>

“I Don’t Want Everybody to Vote”: Christian Nationalism and Restricting Voter Access in the United States

“…Second, and related to this last point, our findings underline the pernicious threat that religious nationalist movements pose to democracy itself, not just in shoring up support for certain political candidates or their positions on polarizing issues (Gorski and Perry 2022; Perry 2022; Stroope et al. 2021; Whitehead et al. 2018), but potentially in supporting efforts to neutralize perceived threats from minority groups by subverting participation in elections.…”

“…First and foremost, because voting is the bedrock foundation of the democratic process, and efforts at restricting voter enfranchisement and access continue to play a formidable role in biasing outcomes for the Republican Party (Hajnal et al 2018;Hajnal et al 2017;Kuk et al 2020;Uggen and Manza 2002), our findings cut to the very heart of contemporary threats to free and fair elections by highlighting how ostensibly religious views about America's Christian character mask authoritarian and hierarchical ideals of merit, inclusion, and access. 4 Second, and related to this last point, our findings underline the pernicious threat that religious nationalist movements pose to democracy itself, not just in shoring up support for certain political candidates or their positions on polarizing issues (Gorski and Perry 2022;Stroope et al 2021;Whitehead et al 2018), but potentially in supporting efforts to neutralize perceived threats from minority groups by subverting participation in elections. Third, despite the documented influence of political partisanship and ideology as well as perceptions of racial threat in shaping Americans' views on voter suppression and disenfranchisement, our findings demonstrate the uniqueness of Christian nationalism as a factor in maintaining and reproducing power hierarchies at the ideological, and ultimately, institutional level.…”

“…2020; Stroop et al. 2021; Whitehead and Perry 2020), we theorize that it likewise underlies contemporary views toward voting and voter access above and beyond partisan identification and ideology, traditional measures of religious conservatism, or even perceptions of racial threat.…”

"I Don't Want Everybody to Vote": Christian Nationalism and Restricting Voter Access in the United States

“…First and foremost, because voting is the bedrock foundation of the democratic process, and efforts at restricting voter enfranchisement and access continue to play a formidable role in biasing outcomes for the Republican Party (Hajnal et al 2017(Hajnal et al , 2018Kuk et al 2020;Uggen and Manza 2002), our findings cut to the very heart of contemporary threats to free and fair elections by highlighting how ostensibly religious views about America's Christian character mask authoritarian and hierarchical ideals of merit, inclusion, and access. 2 Second, and related to this last point, our findings underline the pernicious threat that religious nationalist movements pose to democracy itself, not just in shoring up support for certain political candidates or their positions on polarizing issues (e.g., Gorski and Perry 2022;Stroope et al 2020;Whitehead, Perry, and Baker 2018), but potentially in supporting efforts to neutralize perceived threats from minority groups by subverting participation in elections. Third, despite the documented influence of political partisanship and ideology as well as perceptions of racial threat in shaping Americans' views on voter suppression and disenfranchisement, our findings demonstrate the uniqueness of Christian nationalism as a factor in maintaining and reproducing 2 Though the efficacy of tactics like strict voter ID laws to advantage Republicans has been scrutinized and debated (e.g., Grimmer et al 2018;Mycoff et al 2009;Rocha and Matsubayashi 2014), the most recent research suggest restrictive voting laws are not only intended to disadvantage minority voters, but in fact do so (Hajnal et al 2018;Kuk et al 2020;Uggen and Manza 2002), and the extent to which these effects are not perceived may in fact be due the efficacy of counter-mobilization on the part of Democrats (Valentino and Neuner 2017).…”

How Culture Wars Delay Herd Immunity: Christian Nationalism and Anti-vaccine Attitudes

“…Although majorities of white and black Christiansbe they evangelical, mainline, or Catholic-embrace Christian nationalism to some extent, it is not only localized within those religious institutions. The cultural framework of Christian nationalism is also influential among Americans who rarely attend services, do not affiliate with religious organizations, or worship in non-Christian religions (e.g., Braunstein and Taylor 2017;Stroope et al forthcoming). The scope of Christian nationalism's influence extends beyond those who are devoutly religious and is critical to consider when examining public opinion on contemporary political attitudes and behaviors.…”