New research shows Idaho’s Christian nationalists lack popular support | Opinion
New research from the Public Religion Research Institute sheds light on how extensive support for Christian nationalism has become, with roughly a third of the country nationwide either outright supporting it or expressing significant sympathy with it. But in Idaho, where Christian nationalists have grown to exercise an increasing level of political power through lobbying, the movement has feet of clay.
The poll, which involved interviews with 22,000 Americans across all 50 states, tracked core beliefs — all in opposition to the U.S. Constitution — espoused by the movement.
People were categorized based on whether they agreed with five statements: “(1) The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation, (2) U.S. laws should be based on Christian values, (3) If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore, (4) Being Christian is an important part of being truly American, and (5) God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.”
Espousal of violence as a legitimate means is especially high among those who want to achieve these ends. About a quarter of both adherents and sympathizers of Christian nationalism think violence may be necessary in the current political context — where Republicans have unified control of government.
You should expect that number to rise, not fall, as political winds shift.
During the Biden administration, for example, nearly half of adherents and about a third of sympathizers agreed with the statement, “because things have gotten too far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” When next Democrats are in control of the government, expect the embrace of violence to rebound.
What is the political system envisioned in this violent “restoration” by true patriots? It centers on granting extreme powers to the government so it can carry out persecution.
Two-thirds of adherents and half of sympathizers agree that “immigrants are invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background” — a restatement of the white nationalist Great Replacement Theory. Similar numbers agree with “the U.S. government deporting undocumented immigrants to foreign prisons in El Salvador, Rwanda, or Libya, without allowing them to challenge their deportation in court.”
Majorities of both groups also favor “stripping U.S. citizens of their citizenship and deporting them if they are determined to be a threat to the country.”
And, contrary to deceptive promises by Christian nationalists that the society they envision would be free and tolerant, nearly 80% of adherents score high or very high on measures of support for authoritarianism. This is measured through support for these statements:
“(1) The only way our country can get through the crisis ahead is to get back to our traditional values, put some tough leaders in power, and silence the troublemakers spreading bad ideas. (2) Our country will be destroyed someday if we do not smash the perversions eating away at our moral fiber and traditional beliefs. (3) What our country really needs is a strong, determined leader who will crush evil, and take us back to our true path. (4) Our country will be great if we honor the ways of our forefathers, do what the authorities tell us to do, and get rid of the ‘rotten apples’ who are ruining everything.”
But most Christians are not supporters of Christian nationalism, the polling shows.
Support for Christian nationalism is heavily concentrated in evangelical forms of Christianity, with very few Catholic, Orthodox or mainline Protestant adherents. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Idaho’s largest religious group, fall somewhere in the middle.
Somewhat surprisingly, given the prominence and recent rise to political power of Christian nationalism in Idaho, it does not enjoy especially strong support here, one of the reddest states in the country. About 14% of the population in Idaho are adherents of the ideology and another 25% have some support for it, for a total of 39%.
That’s far too high, but it should be viewed in context.
In deep blue Maryland, for comparison, the total is 30%.
In Arkansas, the heart of the Bible Belt, it’s 54% — a majority of the state. In Mississippi, it’s 52%. In West Virginia, it’s 51%.
That’s the message of hope here. If most Idahoans bought this line of bull, then defeating it would require convincing people to change their core beliefs — a long, arduous and slow process. But they don’t.
So how is it that a small group of religious extremists continue to exhibit such an outsized influence on policy in the Idaho Capitol? (This year, the big push is to continue ramping up official persecution of transgender people through a new bathroom bill).
It isn’t through popular support. The state has become, as Heath Druzin describes it, “a center for Christian nationalist thought” — but most Idahoans oppose Christian nationalism. There are more rejecters than adherents, more skeptics than sympathizers.
So it appears the main strength of Christian nationalism in Idaho is its political organizing and the backroom lobbying it enables.
Organizing in favor of persecution and religious chauvinism can be defeated by effective organizing in support of equal rights, pluralism and religious freedom.
And it must be.
Bryan Clark is an opinion writer for the Idaho Statesman.