‘People Are Hungry for More Choices’: Inside the Green Party’s Push for 2024

Abby Cruz and Laura Gersony for ABC News discuss the role of third parties and newcomer presidential candidate Cornel West, a philosopher and activist seeking the Green Party nomination. West’s candidacy has sparked fears and heated criticism from Democrats who are worried that the professor’s campaign could cost the election for Biden. PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman, Ph.D. said that West’s left-wing platform could appeal to a certain group of voters: “Generally speaking, the term ‘socialism’ is not necessarily embraced by the general public. However…many Americans would say that capitalism as a system isn’t working well for them.” Deckman also named climate change, an issue West has centered in his campaign, as a factor shaping some voters’ perception of capitalism.

Biden To Establish National Monument Honoring Emmett Till

DeNeen L. Brown for the Washington Post reports that President Biden will establish a national monument dedicated to Emmett Till this week. According to a White House official, the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument will include sites in Mississippi and Chicago. Responding to the news of the new monument, Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund said “We encourage the world to learn from this history, reckon with what caused harm and continue the work to prevent the same trauma from ever happening again.” PRRI research finds 81% of Americans support “efforts to promote racial healing by creating more inclusive public spaces in their communities.”

Unveiling the Exodus: Americans’ Reasons for Leaving Religious Traditions

A new PRRI Spotlight Analysis looks at the motivations behind peoples’ departures from different religious traditions using data from PRRI’s recentHealth of Congregations survey. While the majority of religious ‘switchers’ (56%) say they left because they stopped believing in their former religion’s teachings, for many respondents, other reasons also factored into their decision to leave. When asked about other reasons, “scandals involving religious leaders” received the highest response rate from former Catholics (39%). “Negative teachings about LGBTQ people” was cited by nearly half of former evangelicals (45%) as a reason they left, and “my family was not very religious growing up” resonated for the highest percentage former members of non-Christian religions (39%), followed by former mainline Protestants (34%).

In the Beginning, There Was Barbie

At Vox News, Alissa Wilkinson writes about Barbie’s surprising use of theological themes and biblical metaphor. The Barbies live in Barbieland, an analog for the Garden of Eden, and Gerwig previously had compared Barbie and Ken to Adam and Eve. She notes, however, that “Barbie was invented first; Ken was invented after Barbie.” Barbie and Ken leaving Barbieland is likened to Adam and Eve being banned from the Garden of Eden and – in an interrogation of the Genesis narrative – the movie asks, “Would it be better for Barbie and Ken to have continued living naively in paradise or did gaining knowledge of the outside world actually equip them to live better, more fulfilled lives?”

What’s Buzzing?

Read PRRI’s latest spotlight “Unveiling the Exodus: Americans’ Reasons for Leaving Religious Traditions” survey here.