A report released Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution finds that an appetite for political violence has risen since 2021, the year of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Two years ago, just 15 percent of Americans agreed with the statement that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” Now, 23 percent are in favor — including 33 percent of Republicans.
Unsurprisingly, Trump supporters, especially white evangelicals, are in the vanguard of this movement. Nearly one-third of white evangelicals, regardless of party affiliation, expressed support for political violence — easily the highest among all Americans. Among Americans with a favorable view of Trump, 41% of people are open to violence from “true American patriots.”
According to PRRI, white Christians are “notably more likely” to view immigrants as “an invading force.”
These findings are especially alarming amid Trump’s increasingly violent rhetoric that experts fear will further incite his followers to take dangerous and criminal actions. He ridiculed the assault of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul; he accused former Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley of treason and suggested that he be executed; he endorsed the police shooting of suspected shoplifters. And he has ramped up his already vitriolic attacks on perceived outsiders, claiming recently that undocumented immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country.” Just this week, he pledged to “implement strong ideological screening of all immigrants” to keep out those who “don’t like our religion.”
It is clear what Trump means when he says “our religion.” According to PRRI, white Christians are “notably more likely” to view immigrants as “an invading force” than other religious groups, including 61% of white evangelical Protestants, 51% of white Catholics, and 46% of white mainline/nonevangelical Protestants. White evangelicals stand out not just for their continued support for Trump, but his stolen election lie, the QAnon conspiracy theory, comfort with authoritarianism and deep distrust of perceived outsiders, whether immigrants, LGBTQ people or even the judges and prosecutors Trump repeatedly slanders.
“White evangelical Protestants continue to be some of Trump’s most ardent supporters and remain the only major religious group in which a majority (61%) rate him favorably,” according to the report. Though 60 percent still doubt the 2020 election’s outcome, white evangelicals are more determined than any other demographic to vote in 2024, with 78 percent telling PRRI they are certain they will cast a ballot. Compare that to 61 percent of Black Protestants, 53 percent of non-Christian religious Americans, and 56 percent of religiously unaffiliated Americans.
But enthusiasm for voting should not be mistaken for a commitment to democracy. While most Americans (58 percent) believe there is “credible evidence that Donald Trump committed serious federal crimes,” just 28 percent of white evangelicals agree.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that every team of prosecutors leading criminal cases against Trump now have round-the-clock protection. Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and chief prosecutor of Jan. 6 rioters, has told congressional investigators that threats to his office have become “pervasive.” The FBI has created a special unit to address threats against the bureau, which have risen more than 300 percent since its agents executed a search warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home last year. Trump has called New York Attorney General Letitia James a “Trump Deranged Lunatic” for pursuing a civil fraud case against him. The judge in the case, Arthur Engoron, has slapped him with sanctions for persisting in posting threats against court staff online, in violation of his order.
Belief in the stolen election lie, combined with favorable views of Trump, are strongly correlated with white Christian nationalism.
Belief in the stolen election lie, combined with favorable views of Trump, are strongly correlated with white Christian nationalism, or the belief that “God intended America to be a new promised land where European Christians could create a society that could be an example to the rest of the world,” PRRI Founder and President Robert P. Jones told me. Believers in white Christian nationalism “are significantly more likely than those who disagree to say that true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country (39% vs. 16%),” according to the report. A majority of white evangelicals, 54 percent, agreed with the statement on white Christian nationalism.
“They see nonwhites and non-Christians changing the country,” Jones said, “and if you think this is God’s will, and who the country is for, it’s a very short step from there to advocate for violence to protect that vision.”
The PRRI findings forecast a bumpy road ahead to the 2024 election. One of the two major political parties is under the sway of a corrupt authoritarian who is using race, religion, disinformation and attacks on the rule of law to keep an increasing share of his base that both he and his party are dependent on to win elections — or to support them if they claim, in the face of a loss, that the election was stolen. We have seen this before with the deadly attack on the Capitol. The country must be prepared to repel a repeat performance.