Fears About Discrimination Against White Americans on Display at RNC
Fears About Discrimination Against White Americans on Display at RNC
PRRI’s latest data shows that Republicans (62%) are three times more likely than Democrats (19%) to say discrimination against whites has become as a big a problem as discrimination against Black Americans and other minorities. In The New York Times, Giovanni Russonello examines this data as part of an analysis on the Republican National Convention. “The Republican Party has clearly leaned into a kind of white grievance politics,” Hakeem Jefferson, a professor of political science at Stanford University tells Russonello. “The bottom line is that this is the kind of campaign you can run when you can give up on trying to build a diverse coalition.”
White Christians Disagree with Country on Whether Recent Police Incidents are Isolated
In PRRI’s most recent survey, majorities of white Christians say recent killings of Black men by police officers are isolated incidents rather than a pattern in police interactions with Black Americans. “The Public Religion Research Institute released a report last Friday which found that majorities of white evangelicals (72%), white Catholics (56%), and white mainline Protestants (53%) viewed police killings of black men to be isolated incidents,” writes Michael Gryboski in the Christian Post. Overall, more than four in ten (42%) Americans say that recent police killings of unarmed Black men are isolated incidents, compared to a majority (56%) who say such killings are part of a broader pattern of how police treat Black Americans.
More LGBT Americans Hold Political Office Than Ever Before
Over the last decade, PRRI data has shown increases in support for same-sex marriage throughout the United States. According to recent data, 62% of Americans support same-sex marriage. Matthew Lavietes notes this support in a piece for Reuters on the rise of LGBT politicians in the U.S. “This year, more than 880 openly LGBT+ candidates have appeared or will appear on ballots across the country, nearly double that of 2018, according to the LGBTQ Victory Institute,” Lavietes writes. Additional PRRI data shows that among Americans who identify as LGBT, nearly half (47%) are young adults (ages 18-29), about one-third (32%) are ages 30-49, about one in ten (12%) are ages 50-64, and 8% are seniors (ages 65 and older).
Thomas Edsall: Race Takes Forefront in Republican Party
In a recent piece for The New York Times, Thomas Edsall cites PRRI CEO and founder Robert P. Jones’ 2016 book, “The End of White Christian America.” According to Edsall, the Republican National Convention has revealed internal fears of the Republican Party over race. “The most important issue driving Trump’s ascendance, however, has not been the economy but race,” Edsall writes. He then cites a portion of Jones’ book on the realities of segregated modern life. “The overwhelming majority of white Americans don’t have a single close relationship with a person who isn’t white,” Jones writes.
‘White Too Long’ Book Talk with Robert P. Jones
Join The National Center for Civil and Human Rights on September 4, 2020 from 12:00 PM -1:00 PM for a discussion with Robert P. Jones about his new book “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity.” Drawing on history, public opinion surveys, and personal experience, Jones delivers a provocative examination of the unholy relationship between American Christianity and white supremacy and issues an urgent call for white Christians to reckon with this legacy for the sake of themselves and the nation. You may purchase the book from Amazon here.