Mapping Christian Nationalism Across All 50 States
How do we measure this anti-democratic worldview, and how prevalent is it?
On our monthly “Countering White Christian Nationalism” segments—airing on the third Wednesday of every month at 7pm ET—Joy-Ann Reid and I discuss the threat this ideology presents to American democracy (and to the integrity of American churches). But how do we measure this worldview, and how prevalent is it?
Just ahead of President Trump’s first State of the Union speech, PRRI has released a massive new study mapping support for Christian nationalism, demonstrating the extent to which this anti-democratic worldview has become entrenched across all 50 states.
I give my take on the key findings below, along with links to the full report.
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Based on interviews with more than 22,000 adults conducted throughout 2025, the PRRI American Values Atlas finds that nationwide less the one third of Americans qualify as either Christian nationalism Adherents (11%) or Sympathizers (21%). By a margin of two to one, most Americans reject this worldview.
However, this minority worldview has come to have outsize public influence because it is the animating spirit of Trump’s MAGA movement, which has taken over the Republican party. Today, a majority of Republicans (56%) qualify as either Christian nationalism Adherents (21%) or Sympathizers (35%). This support contrasts sharply with the one in four independents (25%) and less than one in five Democrats (17%) who share these views.
The PRRI study also finds that white Christians (46%) are more likely than Christians of color (39%), non-Christians (13%), and religiously unaffiliated Americans (10%) to qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers. White evangelical Protestants (67%) and Hispanic Protestants (54%)—two groups comprising the religious base of the Republican Party—are the only two major religious groups in which a majority qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers.
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The study also definitively settles a question that has been the source of some debate: whether Christian nationalists are simply cultural Christians or “Christians in name only” (CINO), versus practicing Christians. The study’s findings are unequivocal. Support for Christian nationalism is positively correlated with a range of religious practices. In other words, on average, the more frequently Americans attend church, read the Bible, or pray outside of religious services, the more likely they are to hold Christian nationalist views.
The majority of Americans who attend religious services weekly or more qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers (54%), compared with 39% of those who attend at least a few times a year and 20% of those who seldom or never attend religious services.
This correlation holds frequency of prayer and frequency of reading the Bible.
At the state level, Christian nationalist views predominate in the South and Midwest and are strongly correlated to both Trump favorability and Republican representation in state legislatures.
The states with the highest levels of support for Christian nationalism —about half of their residents — are Arkansas (54%), Mississippi (52%), West Virginia (51%), Oklahoma (49%), and Wyoming (46%). The higher a state’s residents score on the Christian nationalism scale, the more likely they are to hold favorable views of Trump and have a larger proportion of Republican elected officials in their state legislature.
If anyone doubts how central this worldview of Christian nationalism is to Trump’s MAGA movement, this scatterplot showing the linear correlation between state residents’ average score on the Christian Nationalism Scale and favorable views of Trump should settle them.
Other notable findings:
Political violence. Christian nationalism Adherents (30%) are more than twice as likely to agree that “true American Patriots may have to resort to violence” than Christian nationalism Skeptics (14%) and Rejecters (11%).
Trump as a dangerous dictator. Christian nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers overwhelmingly view Trump as a strong leader, while Skeptics and Rejecters overwhelmingly view him as a dangerous dictator.
Harsh and racist views of immigrants. Majorities of Christian nationalism Adherents (67%) and Sympathizers (53%) agree with the idea that “immigrants are invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background,” compared with 32% of Skeptics and 8% of Rejecters. Additionally, majorities of Christian nationalism Adherents (61%) and Sympathizers (54%) support “the U.S. government deporting undocumented immigrants to foreign prisons without due process.” In contrast, around one-third of Skeptics (34%) and one in ten Rejecters (11%) agree.
There is much, much more in the full report.
**REMINDER: Mark your calendars to join our ongoing “Confronting White Christian Nationalism” series with Joy-Ann Reid and Robert P. Jones , which airs on the third Wednesday of each month at 7 pm ET. You can check out the first four episides here.
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I am upset that Anti-Democratic are look upon as the Ant-Christ from many GOP candidates churches!! It’s like We are All sinners and they are the Saints!! This is a deceptive Concept!!!