PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute) is one of the most important research organizations out there because of its consistent, rigorous survey data on the essential role that religion plays in our politics. I talked with their CEO, Melissa Deckman, about PRRI’s new report, “Mapping Christian Nationalism Across the 50 States: Insights from PRRI’s 2025 American Values Atlas.” It shows the strong links between Christian nationalism, which only about 3 in 10 Americans support, and Republican politics (56% of Republicans support it), authoritarianism, and political violence. It features a “heat map” that tracks the prevalence of Christian nationalism at the state level; the more Christian nationalist a state is, the more Republicans will serve in its legislature.
There are many more insights worth digging into in the report and in our conversation. PRRI’s work helps show why the typical demographic analyses of politics (college/non-college, etc.) fall woefully short of explaining what’s really going on.
