Recent PRRI data shows that LGBT Americans are much more likely to identify as independents (43%) or Democrats (40%) than they are to identify as Republicans (11%). As a proportion of each party affiliation group, only 2% of Republicans identify as LGBT, compared to 6% of both independents and Democrats. Last week, more than 300 LGBTQ+ leaders and elected officials announced their support for former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential election. “A Biden-Harris administration would, in addition to signing the Equality Act into law, push for gender-inclusive identification markers, reverse the transgender military ban… and guarantee LGBTQ+ youth are protected and can flourish,” the group writes.

On Thursday, PRRI CEO and founder Robert P. Jones appeared on CNN to discuss the current debates about structural racism in America and how they are shaping the 2020 election. Drawing on his new book, “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity,” Jones sat down with CNN International’s Christiane Amanpour. Jones explains how recent statements heard at the RNC reflect the legacy of white supremacy. “Even before the convention, Trump was tweetingabout the suburbs being ‘destroyed‘ and ‘invaded’ by ‘low-income housing,’ and then he tagged an African-American politician, Cory Booker, as the one who was going to be responsible for this. These are not even thinly veiled appeals to white supremacy and fear. And Trump doubled down on this in his acceptance speech. He’s dusted off Nixon’s law-and-order playbook, an appeal to racial fears among whites.”

During a mass to mark the anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Washington, D.C. called for unity around the nation. “We are at a pivotal juncture in our country’s struggle for racial justice and national harmony,” he said. “Believers and nonbelievers, sports stars and corporate giants, small town residents and urban dwellers must all engage in the work of reconciliation and unity building so that our common future will be better and more secure than the past.” According to PRRI data, 56% of white Catholics say police killings of unarmed Black men are isolated incidents.

PRRI data from 2017 shows that 66% of young people say Black people are portrayed by the news media and entertainment industry in a way that promotes negative stereotypes, while about one-third (34%) say the media presents a fair and accurate representation. This week, film fans around the world mourned the death of Chadwick Boseman, known for a series of films that told important and positive Black stories. Boseman starred in 42, Black Panther, Marshall, and the recently released Spike Lee film, Da 5 Bloods. Beyond film, Boseman was known for his activism and charity work. Boseman kept his illness quiet from the public while continuing his career and devoting countless hours to children suffering from cancer. Boseman was 43 years old.