How Many Americans Support Christian Nationalism?
How Many Americans Support Christian Nationalism?
There is no single percentage that completely answers the question of how many Americans support Christian nationalism. Survey results vary considerably depending on how researchers define the term, the questions they ask and whether respondents are asked to embrace the label "Christian nationalism" directly or instead answer questions measuring beliefs commonly associated with it.
One of the most widely cited measurements comes from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). Its American Values Atlas divides Americans into four groups — Christian nationalism Adherents, Sympathizers, Skeptics and Rejecters — according to their responses to several statements concerning Christianity, government and American identity.
PRRI's 2025 American Values Atlas, released in February 2026, classified 11% of Americans as Christian nationalism Adherents and another 21% as Sympathizers. Combined, these groups represented about 32% of the population. Roughly two-thirds of Americans therefore fell into the Skeptic or Rejecter categories.
This approximately one-third figure has remained relatively stable across several years of PRRI surveys. However, direct questions about whether Americans favor the term "Christian nationalism" produce much lower numbers. Pew Research Center found that only 10% of Americans expressed a favorable opinion of the term in 2026.
The apparent contradiction illustrates one of the most important issues in interpreting Christian nationalism polling: Americans may support particular ideas associated with Christian nationalism without identifying themselves with the label.
About One-Third Qualify as Supporters Under the PRRI Scale
PRRI has developed one of the most influential measures of Christian nationalism in contemporary public-opinion research. Rather than simply asking respondents whether they consider themselves Christian nationalists, its approach uses responses to several statements about Christianity's relationship to American government and national identity.
Under this framework, respondents are classified as Adherents, Sympathizers, Skeptics or Rejecters.
PRRI's major surveys have repeatedly placed approximately three in ten Americans in the first two categories.
The 2023 American Values Atlas, published in February 2024, classified approximately 10% of Americans as Adherents and 20% as Sympathizers.
PRRI's 2024 data again found approximately three in ten Americans in those two groups.
The 2025 American Values Atlas, released February 17, 2026, found:
- 11% of Americans were Christian nationalism Adherents.
- 21% were Christian nationalism Sympathizers.
- Approximately 32% therefore fell on the supportive side of the scale.
- Roughly two-thirds were Skeptics or Rejecters.
These results indicate considerable stability at the national level. Christian nationalism, as measured by PRRI, represents a substantial minority worldview rather than a majority position.
The distinction between Adherents and Sympathizers is also important. Only roughly one in ten Americans falls into the strongest Adherent category. Combining that group with people who hold somewhat sympathetic views produces the widely reported figure of approximately one-third.
Direct Support for the Term Is Much Lower
Polling that asks Americans directly whether they have a favorable opinion of "Christian nationalism" produces substantially smaller numbers.
Pew Research Center found in 2024 that only about 5% of Americans expressed a favorable opinion of Christian nationalism. In 2026, that figure increased to approximately 10%.
At the same time, unfavorable views increased as Americans became more familiar with the term. Pew reported that 31% viewed Christian nationalism unfavorably in 2026.
Public familiarity with the phrase has also grown. Approximately 59% of Americans in 2026 said they had heard or read at least something about Christian nationalism, compared with about 45% in 2022 and 2024.
These findings suggest that direct identification with Christian nationalism is considerably less common than support for some of the beliefs researchers classify as Christian nationalist.
The distinction matters because surveys asking "Do you support Christian nationalism?" are measuring something different from surveys asking whether respondents agree with particular statements about Christianity, government or America's national identity.
What Does "Christian Nation" Mean?
Another complication is that Americans do not necessarily mean the same thing when they describe the United States as a "Christian nation."
In 2022, Pew Research Center found that 45% of Americans said the United States should be a Christian nation.
Taken alone, that number might appear to indicate that nearly half the country supports Christian nationalism. Follow-up questions, however, revealed a considerably more complicated picture.
Many respondents who supported describing America as a Christian nation did not favor establishing Christianity as an official religion or abandoning the constitutional separation between church and state.
Pew's open-ended research found that Americans interpreted "Christian nationalism" and "Christian nation" in very different ways. Some associated the concepts with general Christian morality, American history or patriotism. Others understood them to mean formal Christian political power or religious supremacy.
This ambiguity makes single-question measures particularly difficult to interpret.
Support for Specific Christian Political Ideas
Americans are often more willing to support particular policies involving Christianity and government than they are to embrace the Christian nationalist label.
Pew's 2024 research found that only 13% of Americans favored officially declaring Christianity the national religion.
However, approximately 44% favored government promotion of Christian moral values.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst found similar distinctions in April 2026. Its national survey reported that:
- 26% supported having the federal government declare the United States a Christian nation.
- 36% supported government advocacy of Christian values.
Earlier UMass polling also found substantial numbers of Americans who regarded the United States as historically or inherently Christian.
These differences demonstrate why estimates of Christian nationalism can range from around 5% or 10% in some polls to 30%, 40% or more in others. The surveys may be measuring different concepts.
Political Party Differences
Support for Christian nationalism is distributed very unevenly across American political parties.
PRRI's 2026 survey found that approximately:
- 56% of Republicans qualified as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers.
- 25% of independents fell into those categories.
- 17% of Democrats did so.
Christian nationalism therefore remains a minority worldview nationally while constituting a majority position within portions of the Republican electorate under PRRI's measurement system.
Other surveys similarly show large partisan differences on questions about whether the United States should officially be a Christian nation or whether government should promote Christian values.
UMass polling, for example, found substantially greater support for formally declaring the United States a Christian nation among Republicans than among Democrats.
These partisan differences have become one of the most consistent findings across research on Christian nationalism.
Religious Differences
Religious identity is another major predictor of Christian nationalist attitudes.
White evangelical Protestants consistently record some of the highest levels of support.
PRRI's 2026 research reported that approximately 67% of white evangelical Protestants qualified as Adherents or Sympathizers.
Hispanic Protestants also displayed comparatively high levels of support, with approximately 54% falling into those categories in the 2026 data.
Earlier PRRI research similarly found strong support among both white evangelical and Hispanic Protestant populations.
Christian nationalist attitudes are not confined to these groups, however. Research finds supporters among Catholics, mainline Protestants, members of other Christian traditions and even some Americans who do not fit conventional evangelical categories.
Religious affiliation alone therefore does not determine Christian nationalist beliefs, although particular religious communities show markedly different levels of support.
Geographic Differences
National averages conceal substantial differences among states and regions.
PRRI's state-level research has repeatedly found higher levels of Christian nationalism in parts of the South and in strongly Republican states, while many northeastern and western states report lower levels.
The 2024 American Values Atlas data found approximately 38% of residents of Republican-leaning states qualified as Adherents or Sympathizers, compared with about 22% of residents of Democratic-leaning states.
The following year's state data showed an even wider range. PRRI reported support levels from approximately 15% in Massachusetts to about 51% in Mississippi and Oklahoma.
State political orientation does not perfectly predict Christian nationalist support, however.
Utah provides an important example. Despite being highly religious and strongly Republican, surveys have shown comparatively lower Christian nationalist support than might otherwise be expected.
Colorado similarly reports relatively low proportions of Adherents.
Geography therefore matters, but religious tradition, political culture, demographics and regional history also influence the results.
Most Americans Are Skeptics or Rejecters
Although Christian nationalism receives considerable political and media attention, PRRI's measurements consistently indicate that most Americans do not fall into its supportive categories.
Research specifically examining resistance to Christian nationalism found approximately seven in ten Americans qualified as Skeptics or Rejecters.
The national balance can therefore be described approximately as two Americans skeptical of or opposed to Christian nationalism for every one categorized as an Adherent or Sympathizer.
This distinction is important when evaluating Christian nationalism's political significance.
A movement does not need majority public support to exercise political influence. Highly motivated constituencies can exert substantial influence through primary elections, political organizations, churches, advocacy groups, state legislatures and other institutions.
Christian nationalism can consequently remain a minority position among the overall population while exercising significant influence within particular political constituencies.
Support Has Been Relatively Stable
PRRI's major national surveys suggest that the overall size of the Christian nationalist constituency has changed relatively little in recent years.
Its 2023 data placed approximately 30% of Americans in the Adherent or Sympathizer categories.
The 2024 data produced a similar estimate.
The 2025 American Values Atlas placed the figure at approximately 32%.
This suggests that the basic prevalence of Christian nationalist beliefs has been fairly stable even while public awareness of the movement and political polarization surrounding it have increased.
Direct favorability toward the label may be changing more noticeably.
Pew found favorable views of "Christian nationalism" at approximately 5% in both 2022 and 2024 but approximately 10% in 2026.
At the same time, unfavorable views also increased.
This may indicate growing polarization as more Americans become familiar with the term rather than a simple movement of public opinion toward Christian nationalism.
Earlier Research and Baylor Surveys
Christian nationalism did not suddenly emerge as a subject of polling in the 2020s.
Researchers have studied beliefs concerning Christianity and American national identity for many years.
Baylor Religion Survey data provide important historical evidence. Baylor's Wave VI research classified approximately 21% of respondents as strong Christian Nationalists, while roughly 36% were strong Rejectors and a large group occupied intermediate positions.
Earlier Baylor data likewise documented substantial minorities who believed the United States had always been and remained a Christian nation.
Academic research using national probability samples has also examined Christian nationalism as a distinct worldview. Studies have connected it to voting behavior, partisan identity, attitudes toward immigration, gun policy, science, public health, civil liberties and democratic institutions.
These studies reinforce the idea that Christian nationalism is better understood as a cluster of related beliefs than as membership in a clearly bounded organization.
Christian Nationalism and the Republican Coalition
One of the clearest developments in the research is the concentration of Christian nationalist attitudes within the Republican political coalition.
PRRI surveys show that Republicans are far more likely than Democrats or independents to qualify as Adherents or Sympathizers.
Support is especially high among white evangelical Protestants, frequent churchgoers and voters strongly supportive of Donald Trump.
Research examining the 2024 election found substantial overlap between Christian nationalist attitudes and support for Trump.
Earlier academic research similarly found Christian nationalism independently predicted Trump voting in the 2016 and 2020 elections even when researchers considered other political and demographic factors.
This concentration helps explain why Christian nationalism can play an important role in Republican politics despite being supported by only a minority of Americans overall.
Race and Christian Nationalism
Christian nationalism is frequently discussed in connection with white evangelical Protestant politics, but the research shows a more complicated racial picture.
Large numbers of white Christian conservatives support Christian nationalist beliefs, and numerous academic studies have examined relationships among Christian nationalism, racial identity and attitudes toward racial inequality.
At the same time, Christian nationalism is not exclusively white.
PRRI has documented substantial support among Hispanic Protestants, and scholars have examined Christian nationalism among Black, Hispanic, Asian and other Americans.
Research also suggests that the meaning and political consequences of Christian nationalism can differ by racial group.
For this reason, treating all Christian nationalists as a single homogeneous constituency can conceal important differences in theology, race, political motivation and social background.
Why Polling Numbers Differ So Much
Estimates of Christian nationalist support can appear contradictory because surveys are often measuring different things.
Several major approaches are commonly used.
Direct identification
Researchers ask respondents whether they approve of or identify with "Christian nationalism."
This generally produces relatively low numbers.
Multi-question ideological scales
Researchers ask respondents about several beliefs involving Christianity, national identity and government.
PRRI's Adherent-Sympathizer framework falls into this category and produces an overall supportive population of roughly three in ten Americans.
Christian nation questions
Respondents are asked whether America is or should be a Christian nation.
These questions often produce substantially higher percentages, but respondents may understand "Christian nation" in dramatically different ways.
Policy questions
Researchers ask about specific proposals such as promoting Christian values, placing religious symbols in government spaces or declaring Christianity the national religion.
Results depend heavily upon the exact policy being described.
Religious-national identity measures
Academic researchers sometimes construct broader measures using beliefs about national identity, divine favor, history, religious authority and political power.
Because these methods measure different dimensions of belief, they should not be treated as interchangeable.
Identity Versus Worldview
Recent academic research has increasingly distinguished Christian nationalism as a social identity from Christian nationalism as a worldview.
A person may strongly support several beliefs researchers identify as Christian nationalist yet reject the Christian nationalist label.
Conversely, another person may willingly describe themselves as a Christian nationalist but interpret the term primarily as patriotism combined with Christian faith rather than support for formal Christian political dominance.
This gap between identity and worldview helps explain why direct-label polling produces dramatically different results from multi-question scales.
It also complicates public discussion because politicians, journalists, religious leaders and survey respondents may use the same term to describe different ideas.
Political Influence Is Greater Than Population Share Alone Suggests
The approximately one-third national support estimate does not by itself reveal the political influence of Christian nationalism.
Political influence depends on organization, voter participation, geographic concentration, campaign activity, institutional access and intensity of commitment as well as sheer numbers.
Christian nationalist supporters are heavily concentrated within constituencies that play important roles in Republican primary elections and conservative religious politics.
Organizations advocating Christian political power can therefore exercise influence disproportionate to the percentage of Americans who strongly embrace the ideology.
Research on state politics also demonstrates how organized movements can promote legislation associated with Christian nationalist goals even when those ideas lack majority national support.
Political significance and national popularity should therefore be treated as separate questions.
Christian Nationalism and Democratic Attitudes
A substantial body of research in the source material examines relationships between Christian nationalism and attitudes toward democracy.
PRRI found Christian nationalism strongly associated with authoritarian attitudes and willingness to grant political leaders extraordinary powers.
One survey found that 55% of Christian nationalism supporters agreed that America needed a strong leader willing to break some rules, compared with 34% of Americans overall.
Academic studies have also examined relationships between Christian nationalism and support for leaders violating democratic norms during national emergencies.
Other research connects Christian nationalism with attitudes concerning voting rights, civil liberties, political violence and the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
These findings describe statistical relationships among attitudes and should not be interpreted to mean that every person classified as a Christian nationalist supports authoritarian government or political violence.
The Christian nationalist constituency contains substantial internal variation.
Americans Hold Mixed Views About Christianity and Government
The survey evidence suggests that American public opinion cannot easily be divided into people who want completely secular government and people who want Christian government.
Many Americans hold intermediate or apparently contradictory positions.
A respondent may favor government recognition of Christian moral traditions while opposing an established church.
Another may describe America as a Christian nation while strongly supporting religious freedom.
Some support prayer or biblical influence in public life while opposing the Christian nationalist label.
Others reject Christian nationalism while believing Christianity has played an important historical role in American culture.
These mixed positions explain why estimates change so dramatically depending on survey wording.
A Range Rather Than a Single Number
The most accurate answer to the question "How many Americans support Christian nationalism?" therefore depends on what is being measured.
The source material suggests several useful benchmarks:
- Roughly 10–11% qualify as the strongest Christian nationalism Adherents under PRRI's scale.
- Approximately 30–32% qualify as either Adherents or Sympathizers.
- About 10% expressed a favorable opinion of the term "Christian nationalism" in Pew's 2026 polling.
- Approximately 26% supported formally declaring the United States a Christian nation in a 2026 UMass survey.
- Roughly 36–44% support some forms of government promotion of Christian values, depending on the question and survey.
- About 45% said the United States should be a Christian nation in Pew's 2022 survey, although follow-up questions demonstrated very different interpretations of that phrase.
- Approximately two-thirds to seven in ten Americans fall into skeptical or rejecting categories under PRRI's ideological measurement.
None of these percentages is necessarily incorrect. They answer different questions.
Conclusion
Christian nationalism represents a significant but minority current in American public opinion.
The most consistent multi-question measurement, PRRI's Christian nationalism scale, places approximately three in ten Americans in its Adherent or Sympathizer categories, with only around one in ten classified as strong Adherents. Roughly two-thirds of Americans are categorized as Skeptics or Rejecters.
Direct identification with the phrase "Christian nationalism" is considerably less common. Pew found only 10% of Americans viewed the term favorably in 2026, although support for individual ideas associated with Christian political influence is often much higher.
The movement's support is highly uneven. Christian nationalist attitudes are considerably more common among Republicans, white evangelical Protestants, Hispanic Protestants and residents of some Republican-leaning states than among Democrats, religiously unaffiliated Americans and residents of many Democratic-leaning states.
The research also demonstrates why no single poll can definitively establish how many Americans are Christian nationalists. Depending on whether researchers measure identity, ideology, attitudes toward a "Christian nation," specific policies or broader religious-national beliefs, the resulting estimate can range from a relatively small minority to nearly half of the population.
The clearest overall conclusion is therefore not that a fixed percentage of Americans are Christian nationalists, but that approximately one-third express enough Christian nationalist beliefs to qualify as supporters under widely used multidimensional measures, while a considerably smaller group explicitly embraces the label itself.
National Prevalence Estimates and Major Surveys
1. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 4, 2025
PRRI's 2024 American Values Atlas classified 10% of Americans as Adherents and 20% as Sympathizers, showing remarkable stability from earlier surveys.
2. | Jack Jenkins | Religion News Service | December 18, 2023
A Neighborly Faith survey using a broader fourteen-question measure classified 11% as Adherents and 19% as Sympathizers, closely paralleling PRRI's roughly 30% estimate.
3. | Jennifer Rubin | The Washington Post | February 9, 2023
Commentary on the PRRI/Brookings poll emphasizes that Adherents alone constitute roughly 10% of adults but Adherents plus Sympathizers represent almost three in ten Americans.
4. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 8, 2023
This foundational PRRI/Brookings survey finds 10% of Americans are Adherents and 19% Sympathizers, establishing the roughly three-in-ten figure widely cited afterward.
5. | Brookings Institution | Brookings Institution | February 2023
The event transcript explains how researchers created the Adherent, Sympathizer, Skeptic and Rejecter categories and why approximately three in ten Americans fall on the supportive side.
National Public Opinion and Direct Support Measures
6. | Robert P. Jones interview | The Guardian | October 3, 2026
PRRI founder Robert P. Jones discusses Christian nationalism's demographic base and political influence despite remaining a minority position among Americans nationally.
7. | Scholars/Religion News Service | Religion News Service | August 21, 2026
Research involving 1,500 American Christians finds Christian nationalist attitudes can coexist with abstract support for pluralism, particularly when respondents perceive Christianity as threatened.
The authors note that roughly one-third of Americans somewhat support Christian nationalist assumptions while a substantially larger majority are Skeptics or Rejecters.
9. | Statista Research Department | Statista | July 28, 2026
This dataset isolates white respondents, showing that levels of Christian nationalism among white Americans vary considerably among the states.
10. | Deseret News Staff | Deseret News | May 16, 2026
This discussion of religion in American public life cites Pew data showing that only a minority explicitly favors Christian nationalism while substantial numbers support some Christian influence in government.
11. | Charles McCrary | Public Religion Research Institute | May 15, 2026
PRRI examines why Americans' familiarity with and opinions of the phrase "Christian nationalism" differ from their responses to specific Christian nationalist policy ideas.
12. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | May 14, 2026
Pew finds that 10% of U.S. adults now hold a favorable view of the term "Christian nationalism," compared with 31% who view it unfavorably and many who remain unfamiliar or undecided.
13. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | May 14, 2026
Pew's trend chart shows favorable views of Christian nationalism increasing from 5% in 2022 and 2024 to 10% in 2026, while unfavorable views rose to 31%.
14. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | May 14, 2026
Familiarity with the term increased substantially: 59% of adults had heard at least a little about Christian nationalism in 2026 compared with 45% in 2024 and 2022.
15. | Jack Panyard | Christianity Today | May 14, 2026
Christianity Today analyzes Pew's findings, noting that growing awareness of Christian nationalism has produced increases in both favorable and unfavorable opinions.
16. | Peter Smith | Associated Press/PBS NewsHour | May 14, 2026
Coverage of the Rededicate 250 gathering discusses growing political visibility of Christian nationalism despite polling showing it remains a minority position nationally.
17. | The Guardian | The Guardian | April 28, 2026
This investigation notes that about one-third of Americans support or sympathize with Christian nationalist ideas and discusses their relationship to patriarchal attitudes.
18. | The Guardian | The Guardian | April 10, 2026
The Guardian cites PRRI estimates that roughly one in three Americans are Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers while examining the movement's political influence.
19. | UMass Poll | University of Massachusetts Amherst | April 7, 2026
A national UMass poll finds 26% agree the federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation, while 36% support government advocacy of Christian values.
20. | University of Massachusetts Amherst | UMass Amherst | April 7, 2026
The university's summary highlights sharp divisions by party, ideology, age and support for MAGA on questions commonly used to measure Christian nationalism.
21. | Religion News Service | Religion News Service | March 30, 2026
The article places PRRI's approximately one-third support estimate against broader evidence that most Americans remain skeptical of Christian nationalist politics.
22. | Religion Watch | Baylor University | 2026
Baylor's Religion Watch summarizes Pew's 2026 findings, including increased awareness of Christian nationalism and relatively stable support for most church-state ideas associated with it.
23. | Frank Newport | Gallup | 2026
Gallup explains why estimates of Christian nationalism vary: some surveys ask people whether they embrace the label, while others construct an index from responses to policy and identity questions.
Analysis of Pew data argues that increased political visibility for the religious right has not produced majority support for declaring the United States officially Christian.
25. | Mariya Manzhos | Deseret News | August 16, 2025
The article examines contemporary advocates of explicit Christian government and situates them within national debates about the size and meaning of Christian nationalism.
26. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | October 30, 2024
This report reverses the question and studies opposition: roughly seven in ten Americans were either Skeptics or Rejecters of Christian nationalism.
27. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | October 30, 2024
PRRI emphasizes that opponents of Christian nationalism constitute a broad majority spanning religious, demographic and geographic groups.
28. | Religion News Service | Religion News Service | October 14, 2024
PRRI president Robert P. Jones summarizes the national divide as approximately two Americans rejecting Christian nationalism for every one who supports it.
29. | Niala Boodhoo | Axios | October 7, 2024
Axios notes that PRRI continued to find about 30% of Americans in Christian nationalism's Adherent or Sympathizer categories and describes Christian opposition to the movement.
30. | Religion News Service | Religion News Service | August 16, 2024
The article reports that approximately 30% completely reject Christian nationalism and another 37% are skeptical, providing a useful measure of the movement's opposition.
31. | Michael R. Fisher Jr. | Public Religion Research Institute | July 3, 2024
PRRI examines racial differences within the roughly three in ten Americans classified as Christian nationalist supporters.
32. | Russell Contreras | Axios | June 24, 2024
Axios provides an overview of Christian nationalism's growing political visibility while noting that its core worldview remains a minority position nationally.
33. | Chip Rotolo, Gregory A. Smith and Jonathan Evans | Pew Research Center | March 15, 2024
Pew finds only 5% of Americans explicitly held a favorable view of "Christian nationalism," illustrating how direct identification produces much lower estimates than ideological scales.
34. | Chip Rotolo, Gregory A. Smith and Jonathan Evans | Pew Research Center | March 15, 2024
Pew's nationally representative survey found that only 13% of Americans wanted Christianity officially declared the national religion, while 44% favored government promotion of Christian moral values without formally establishing Christianity.
35. | Jack Jenkins | Religion News Service | March 15, 2024
RNS summarizes Pew's findings that direct favorability toward Christian nationalism was low even though larger percentages supported government promotion of Christian values.
36. | Religion Watch | Baylor University | March 12, 2024
Baylor reviews competing ways researchers identify Christian nationalists and notes estimates near 30% under several multidimensional approaches.
37. | The Guardian | The Guardian | March 11, 2024
PRRI data examined here show Christian nationalist identification strongly correlated with opposition to LGBTQ protections, illustrating differences between supporters and the general population.
38. | The Guardian | The Guardian | March 2, 2024
The Guardian uses PRRI's approximately 30% national estimate while examining Christian nationalist influence surrounding Alabama's IVF ruling.
39. | Christianity Today Staff | Christianity Today | March 2024
Christianity Today notes that 44% favored government promotion of Christian moral values, even though only a small percentage positively identified with the Christian nationalism label.
40. | Russell Contreras | Axios | February 28, 2024
Axios reports that about two-thirds of Americans reject or are skeptical of Christian nationalism, while approximately three in ten qualify as supporters.
41. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 28, 2024
The full PRRI report provides detailed state, racial, religious and partisan breakdowns of Christian nationalist support.
42. | UMass Poll | University of Massachusetts Amherst | February 16, 2024
The UMass survey finds 51% agree America was founded as a Christian nation, 39% say it should always be a Christian nation and 34% want Christian values influencing government.
43. | University of Massachusetts Amherst | UMass Amherst | 2024
The university's report highlights that nearly four in ten respondents believed America should always remain a Christian nation.
44. | Baylor University | Baylor Magazine | 2024
Baylor's survey analysis reports that more than one-quarter view America as having always been a Christian nation while another large group believes it was Christian historically but no longer is.
45. | Michelle Boorstein | The Washington Post | May 19, 2023
The article compares Pew, PRRI, Baylor and academic approaches, demonstrating that estimates of Christian nationalist support depend heavily on how the ideology is defined.
46. | Yonat Shimron | Religion News Service | February 8, 2023
RNS describes the survey as finding 29% of Americans either adhere to or sympathize with Christian nationalist ideals.
47. | Scholars | TIME | November 13, 2022
Analysis argues that Christian nationalists often perceive their beliefs as more widespread than polling indicates, a phenomenon reinforced by partisan and religious networks.
48. | Axios Staff | Axios | November 2, 2022
Axios discusses Pew's finding that more than four in ten Americans want the country to be a Christian nation while noting disagreement over the meaning of the term.
49. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | October 27, 2022
Pew finds 45% say the United States should be a "Christian nation," although detailed questioning reveals wide disagreement about what respondents mean by the phrase.
50. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | October 27, 2022
Only 5% directly reported a favorable view of "Christian nationalism," while 24% viewed it negatively and most were unfamiliar with the term.
51. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | October 27, 2022
Open-ended responses show Americans interpret Christian nationalism in markedly different ways, ranging from ordinary religious morality to formal Christian political dominance.
52. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | October 27, 2022
Pew finds just under half of Americans favor at least some biblical influence on U.S. laws, although most simultaneously say churches should remain outside partisan politics.
53. | Jack Jenkins | Religion News Service | October 27, 2022
RNS reports Pew's 45% "Christian nation" figure while stressing that most supporters do not endorse an outright theocracy or established national church.
54. | Researchers | The Washington Post | October 25, 2022
Longitudinal survey evidence shows support for formally declaring the United States a Christian nation has generally hovered around a minority of Americans rather than becoming a majority position.
55. | Christianity Today | Christianity Today | October 2022
Christianity Today examines Pew's 45% estimate and explains why academics distinguish a broadly Christian national identity from more explicit Christian nationalist ideology.
56. | Allyson F. Shortle | The Washington Post | September 1, 2022
Analysis of multiple national surveys examines American religious exceptionalism and the broader public constituency potentially receptive to Christian nationalism.
57. | Baylor Religion Survey | Baylor University | 2021
Baylor's analysis collection provides survey materials on Christian nationalism and related political, conspiratorial and social attitudes.
Partisan, Religious, Racial, and State-Level Differences
58. | Statista Research Department | Statista | July 28, 2026
Statista presents PRRI-derived state-by-state estimates of the percentage of adults classified as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers.
59. | David Katibah | Religion News Service | June 17, 2026
A PRRI survey finds 64% prefer an America made up of many different faiths rather than a primarily Christian nation, even as favorable views of Christian nationalism have risen among Republicans.
60. | Religion News Service | Religion News Service | June 16, 2026
This PRRI chart reproduced by RNS tracks favorable views of Christian nationalism by party between 2022 and 2026, showing particularly strong growth among Republicans.
61. | UMass Poll | University of Massachusetts Amherst | April 7, 2026
Detailed crosstabs reveal major partisan differences: 54% of Republicans versus 6% of Democrats agreed that the United States should be declared a Christian nation.
62. | Russell Contreras and John Frank | Axios Boulder | February 24, 2026
Colorado data demonstrate the geographical variation in Christian nationalist support, with relatively low numbers of Adherents and a larger group of Sympathizers.
63. | Kim Bojórquez and Russell Contreras | Axios Salt Lake City | February 23, 2026
Utah provides an interesting counterexample: despite being a Republican state with a highly religious population, fewer than one-third of residents qualified as Christian nationalist supporters.
64. | Russell Contreras | Axios | February 18, 2026
Axios summarizes PRRI's newest 50-state survey, finding Christian nationalism remains a minority position nationally but has become a majority position within important parts of the Republican coalition.
65. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 17, 2026
PRRI's latest 50-state American Values Atlas estimates that 11% of Americans qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents and 21% as Sympathizers, meaning roughly one-third of the country expresses substantial support for Christian nationalist ideas.
66. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 17, 2026
The accompanying release reports that 56% of Republicans qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers, compared with 25% of independents and 17% of Democrats.
67. | Bob Smietana | Religion News Service | February 17, 2026
Religion News Service reports that roughly one-third of Americans fall into PRRI's Adherent or Sympathizer categories, including 67% of white evangelical Protestants and 54% of Hispanic Protestants.
68. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 17, 2026
This fact sheet examines Christian nationalism in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin and illustrates substantial geographic variation.
69. | PRRI | PRRI Substack | February 17, 2026
PRRI's overview emphasizes that the approximately one-third national support level masks much higher support among Republicans, white evangelicals and residents of Republican-dominated states.
70. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 17, 2026
The complete 2026 report includes state-by-state estimates and demographic comparisons, showing especially high support among Republicans and frequent churchgoers.
71. | Allyson Shortle and Michael R. Fisher Jr. | Public Religion Research Institute | August 12, 2025
The authors investigate how Christian nationalist identity interacts with racial identity and vote choice in the 2024 presidential election.
72. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | April 2025
PRRI's survey found 21% of Americans held a favorable view of the term Christian nationalism, compared with 43% unfavorable, with especially high favorability among Republicans and white evangelicals.
73. | Anita Huízar-Hernández | Public Religion Research Institute | March 17, 2025
PRRI analyzes growing Christian nationalist support among Hispanic Protestants and emphasizes differences within the broader Hispanic population.
74. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 4, 2025
The press release reports that a majority of Republicans qualify as Christian nationalism supporters compared with much smaller shares of independents and Democrats.
75. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 4, 2025
State-level data showed support ranging from 15% in Massachusetts to 51% in Mississippi and Oklahoma.
76. | Religion News Service | Religion News Service | October 28, 2024
The article examines why approximately four in ten Latter-day Saints expressed at least sympathy with Christian nationalist ideas while Utah itself showed comparatively low support.
77. | Aleja Hertzler-McCain | Religion News Service | October 18, 2024
Surveys show support among Hispanic Protestants increasing from 43% in 2022 to 55% in 2023 and approximately 59% in mid-2024.
78. | Axios Staff | Axios | March 29, 2024
The article contrasts declining American religious affiliation with continued political influence of Christian nationalist ideas within portions of the Republican coalition.
79. | Russell Contreras | Axios | February 29, 2024
Axios focuses on the finding that 55% of Hispanic Protestants qualified as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers.
80. | Philip Bump | The Washington Post | February 29, 2024
Washington Post analysis maps Christian nationalist support against Trump support, showing especially strong overlap in heavily white Christian Republican areas.
81. | Jack Jenkins | Religion News Service | February 28, 2024
RNS reports that roughly three in ten Americans express some sympathy for Christian nationalism, with support concentrated geographically and among specific religious groups.
82. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 28, 2024
The first comprehensive PRRI 50-state analysis finds 10% Adherents and 20% Sympathizers nationally, with state support ranging from roughly 17% to 50%.
83. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 28, 2024
PRRI reports Republicans were more than twice as likely as independents and more than three times as likely as Democrats to qualify as Christian nationalism supporters.
84. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 28, 2024
PRRI found about 38% of residents of Republican-leaning states qualified as Adherents or Sympathizers compared with roughly 22% of residents of Democratic-leaning states.
85. | Maya Yang | The Guardian | February 9, 2023
The Guardian highlights the high concentration of Christian nationalist beliefs among Republicans and white evangelical Protestants.
86. | Brookings Institution | Brookings Institution | February 8, 2023
Brookings' launch event presents results from the 6,000-person PRRI/Brookings Christian Nationalism Survey and discusses how support varies across political and religious groups.
87. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 8, 2023
The press release emphasizes that nearly two-thirds of white evangelical Protestants and more than half of Republicans qualified as Adherents or Sympathizers.
88. | Jack Jenkins | The Washington Post/Religion News Service | October 27, 2022
The article details strong demographic differences: white evangelicals were especially supportive, while young adults and religiously unaffiliated Americans were much less supportive.
89. | Religion News Service | Religion News Service | September 23, 2022
A University of Maryland poll found 62% of Americans opposed officially declaring the United States a Christian nation, while 61% of Republicans supported the proposal.
90. | Stella Rouse and Shibley Telhami | Maryland Today | September 22, 2022
University of Maryland researchers report majority Republican support for declaring the United States a Christian nation despite many respondents acknowledging constitutional concerns.
Measurement, Definitions, and Methodology
This study distinguishes Christian nationalism as a social identity from Christian nationalism as a worldview and shows that estimates can change depending on definitions given to respondents.
92. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | June 2026
PRRI finds 25% of Americans hold a favorable view of the term Christian nationalism, highlighting how question wording and methodology can produce substantially different results from Pew.
93. | Religion News Service | Religion News Service | January 16, 2025
This discussion explains PRRI's measurement framework and explores why even a minority movement can have significant political influence.
94. | Bob Smietana | Religion News Service | May 17, 2023
This overview compares Baylor, Pew and other measurement approaches, explaining why estimates vary substantially depending on whether polls ask about identity, policy or worldview.
95. | Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | March 3, 2023
Miller discusses disputes over PRRI's measurement while acknowledging substantial public support for specific ideas associated with a Christian America.
96. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | October 27, 2022
Pew's qualitative responses reveal definitions ranging from generic patriotism and Christian morality to explicit Christian political supremacy and theocracy.
Democracy, Authoritarianism, Rights, and Political Violence
97. | David E. Campbell and Geoffrey C. Layman | Politics and Religion | July 13, 2026
Panel data suggest public association of January 6 with Christian nationalism generated both religious and partisan backlash among some Americans.
98. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | 2026
PRRI finds support for political violence consistently highest among Christian nationalism Adherents and lowest among Rejecters, demonstrating that the scale predicts attitudes beyond religion.
99. | Donald P. Haider-Markel et al. | Social Science Quarterly | 2026
National survey evidence indicates gun ownership and strong gun-owner identity can amplify the relationship between Christian nationalist beliefs and support for political violence.
100. | Scholar | Peace and Conflict Studies | 2026
A survey of more than 1,300 white Americans investigates how Christian nationalism, apocalyptic beliefs and outgroup hostility relate to support for violent extremism.
The archived Christian Nationalism and Political Violence Survey provides respondent-level data used to study Christian nationalism, conspiracy beliefs and political violence.
102. | Researchers | Injury Epidemiology | 2025
Nationally representative research examines strong approval of Christian nationalism alongside other political movements and its relationship to willingness to endorse political violence.
103. | Religion News Service | Religion News Service | September 16, 2024
RNS reports that 55% of Christian nationalism supporters favored a strong leader willing to break some rules, compared with 34% of Americans overall.
104. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | September 10, 2024
A survey of more than 5,000 Americans finds strong associations between Christian nationalist beliefs, authoritarian attitudes and willingness to grant presidents extraordinary powers.
105. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | September 10, 2024
PRRI reports authoritarian attitudes are especially concentrated among Christian nationalism supporters, Republicans favorable toward Trump and white evangelical Protestants.
106. | Samuel L. Perry et al. | Politics and Religion | 2024
National survey data show Christian nationalism was a strong predictor of willingness to suspend elections, suppress opponents or weaken checks and balances during purported emergencies.
107. | Scholars | Sociology of Religion | May 8, 2023
The full academic paper provides evidence that Christian nationalism predicts attitudes toward voting rights, gun rights, religious liberty and civil liberties.
108. | Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry | TIME | September 2022
The authors explain how survey research identifies a sizable but minority Christian nationalist constituency and discusses connections with democracy, race and political violence.
109. | Miles T. Armaly, David T. Buckley and Adam M. Enders | Political Behavior | 2022
Survey research conducted after January 6 links Christian nationalism, perceived victimhood, racial identity and conspiracy beliefs with greater support for the Capitol attack.
110. | Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead | TIME | 2021
The authors cite survey research indicating that a substantial minority of white Americans strongly embrace Christian nationalism and connect those beliefs with anti-democratic attitudes.
111. | Andrew L. Whitehead, Landon Schnabel and Samuel L. Perry | Socius | July 23, 2018
National survey data found Christian nationalism among the strongest predictors of opposition to stricter federal gun laws.
Academic Research on Christian Nationalism and Its Correlates
Original survey research explores how Christians with stronger Christian nationalist beliefs prioritize electing Christians and changing laws according to biblical principles over other conceptions of building God's kingdom.
113. | Christopher H. Seto | Sociology of Religion | May 24, 2026
Original U.S. survey data show Christian nationalism is associated with greater distrust of immigrants even after accounting for political and racial identities.
114. | Paul A. Djupe and Brooklyn Walker | Politics and Religion | March 26, 2026
A survey of 1,500 American Christians shows Christian nationalism and certain pluralistic attitudes can coexist, complicating binary classifications of supporters and opponents.
115. | Samuel L. Perry | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | March 14, 2026
Survey research links Christian nationalist beliefs to selective forms of pronatalism and demographic concerns, providing additional evidence about the worldview of the supportive constituency.
116. | Kimberly H. Conger | Politics and Religion | January 14, 2026
The study shifts attention from individual polling to institutional political power, examining how Christian-nationalist policy agendas can influence state governments despite minority national support.
117. | Donald P. Haider-Markel et al. | Social Science Quarterly | 2026
The study offers additional evidence that Christian nationalism is not simply a religious measure but a political identity associated with perceptions of threat and willingness to endorse extreme action.
118. | Jesse Smith | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | December 26, 2025
Using GSS, VOTER and PRRI datasets, Smith documents growing polarization between a more secular Democratic coalition and increasingly Christian-nationalist Republican constituencies.
119. | Joshua B. Grubbs et al. | Public Opinion Quarterly | May 13, 2025
National survey data demonstrate that the relationship between Christian nationalism and political identity varies substantially by race, complicating assumptions that supporters form a uniform political bloc.
120. | Nilay Saiya | Politics and Religion | May 13, 2025
Saiya argues American Christian nationalism contains distinct charismatic, Calvinist and Catholic-integralist strains rather than representing one uniform constituency.
121. | Researchers | National Survey of Gun Policy / PMC | 2025
A nationally representative survey of 3,096 U.S. adults found approximately 13% approved of the Christian nationalist movement when respondents were asked directly about movement approval.
122. | Researchers | Injury Epidemiology / PubMed Central | 2025
The study shows direct strong approval of the Christian nationalist movement is considerably smaller than the population classified as sympathetic through multi-question ideological scales.
123. | Fanhao Nie | Review of Religious Research | 2025
Survey evidence among Asian and Asian American adults finds Christian nationalism associated with differing perceptions of anti-Asian racism and white privilege.
124. | Andrew L. Whitehead et al. | Nations and Nationalism | 2025
State-level analysis uses PRRI's categories of 10% Adherents and 20% Sympathizers to examine the relationship between Christian nationalism and the 2024 vote for Donald Trump.
125. | Scholars | Politics and Religion | 2024
Experimental evidence finds racial cues affect white respondents' support for Christian nationalism, suggesting racial and religious conceptions of national identity can interact.
126. | Scholars | Sociology of Religion | May 8, 2023
Using a nationally representative sample, this academic study examines Christian nationalism as a predictor of which constitutional and political rights Americans prioritize.
127. | Abigail Vegter, Andrew R. Lewis and Cammie Jo Bolin | Politics and Religion | January 26, 2023
Survey experiments distinguish Christian nationalism from broader American civil religion and show that religious-patriotic beliefs are increasingly structured along partisan lines.
128. | Paul A. Djupe et al. | Politics and Religion | 2023
A 2021 survey experiment finds Christian nationalist respondents display stronger ingroup preferences, while perceived persecution significantly heightens hostility toward outsiders.
129. | Samuel L. Perry, Andrew L. Whitehead and Joshua B. Grubbs | Politics and Religion | April 21, 2021
National survey evidence found Christian nationalist beliefs strongly predicted intention to vote for Donald Trump in 2020, including movement toward Trump among some previous nonvoters and third-party voters.
The study finds Christian nationalism strongly associated with rejection of scientific claims when those claims intersect with cultural and religious conflicts.
Panel survey data during COVID-19 found Christian nationalism strongly predicted lower compliance with public-health precautions.
This landmark academic study uses a national probability sample and demonstrates that Christian nationalist ideology independently predicted voting for Donald Trump in 2016.
Historical Surveys and Long-Term Trends
133. | Jesse Smith | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | December 26, 2025
Long-term data from 1996 through 2022 suggest some individual Christian-nationalist indicators have declined nationally even as partisan sorting around the ideology has intensified.
134. | Baylor Religion Survey | Baylor University | 2021/2025
The research packet reports approximately 21% of Americans categorized as strong Christian Nationalists and roughly 36% as strong Rejectors.
135. | Baylor Religion Survey | Baylor University | 2021
Baylor's nationally representative Wave VI survey provides one of the major datasets used to estimate levels of Christian nationalist belief in the United States.
136. | Baylor Religion Survey | Baylor University | 2021
Baylor classified approximately 21% of respondents as strong Christian Nationalists, 43% as moderates and 36% as strong Rejectors.
137. | Andrew Whitehead et al. | Baylor Religion Survey | 2017
Earlier Baylor data show 26.2% believed the United States had always been and remained a Christian nation, providing historical context for later polling.
News, Analysis, and Political Context
138. | Chip Rotolo, Gregory A. Smith and Jonathan Evans | Pew Research Center | March 15, 2024
Pew's complete survey report provides demographic and partisan tables showing support for Christian-nationalist-adjacent positions by religion, party, age, education and other characteristics.
139. | PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | February 28, 2024
The state tables reveal especially high support in North Dakota, Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia and Louisiana and particularly low levels in several northeastern and western states.
140. | Gabriel R. Sanchez, Keon L. Gilbert and Carly Bennett | Brookings Institution | March 30, 2023
Brookings analyzes the PRRI/Brookings survey, emphasizing the 10% Adherent and 19% Sympathizer national estimates and their relationship to racial attitudes.
141. | Mya Jaradat | Deseret News | October 28, 2021
Pew-related data show most Americans support church-state separation while a sizable minority favor stronger integration of Christianity and government.
