Trump’s rise was symptomatic of a preexisting militant evangelical worldview
Evidence
Donald Trump did not trigger this militant turn; his rise was symptomatic of a long-standing condition. Survey data reveal the stark contours of the contemporary evangelical worldview. More than any other religious demographic in America, white evangelical Protestants support preemptive war, condone the use of torture, and favor the death penalty. They are more likely than members of other faith groups to own a gun, to believe citizens should be allowed to carry guns in most places, and to feel safer with a firearm around. White evangelicals are more opposed to immigration reform and have more negative views of immigrants than any other religious demographic; two-thirds support Trump’s border wall. Sixty-eight percent of white evangelical Protestants—more than any other demographic—do not think that the United States has a responsibility to accept refugees. More than half of white evangelical Protestants think a majority nonwhite US population would be a negative development. White evangelicals are considerably more likely than others to believe that Islam encourages violence, to refuse to see Islam as “part of mainstream American society,” and to perceive “natural conflict between Islam and democracy.” At the same time, white evangelicals believe that Christians in America face more discrimination than Muslims. White evangelicals are significantly more authoritarian than other religious groups, and they express confidence in their religious leaders at much higher rates than do members of other faiths. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 9
Categorization
- DEFINE: First statement of the central continuity-not-hypocrisy thesis and the survey profile that defines the book’s core demographic.
- XREF: Connects to the moral-panics and polarization literature already in the library, and to Shapiro’s COMPAS-style demographic claims about group attitudes. — connects to: Trump symptomizes rather than causes post-truth — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 53; The birther conspiracy launched Trump’s political viability. — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 160