Then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference at the Washington Hilton on June 24, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Trump spoke on a variety of topics before an audience of conservative evangelical Christians. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
A modern study finds that about one in three Americans is a Christian nationalist or sympathizer with the cause.
Study conducted by Public Religion Research Institutealso found strong links between support for Christian nationalism and support for the Republican Party, and President Donald Trump in particular.
“I think it’s a threat (to) our democracy,” said Melissa Deckman, CEO of the Institute for the Study of Public Religion. “We have consistently found that Christian nationalists tend to endorse more illiberal views in the sense that they are more likely to adopt more authoritarian views, which can generally be used to justify restricting some people’s access to the ballot or to use undemocratic ways to stay in power.”
Most Christian nationalists want America to be a theocracy governed explicitly by biblical principles, often interpreted through a fundamentalist lens. Many also believe that only Christians should be allowed to hold political office.
Although the extensive majority of Americans do not support the ideals of Christian nationalism, the survey found that approximately 11% of Americans are vigorous Christian nationalists and another 2% are sympathizers. Researchers classified the majority of Americans – 64% – as skeptical or rejecting Christian nationalism.
“In short, far more Americans reject it than support it,” Deckman said in an interview. “But politically, it’s so important to measure because we now have a political party that is run by prominent Christian nationalists right in the Republican Party, whether it’s the Trump administration or the executive branch, who really have disproportionate influence, and people like the Speaker of the House are someone who would support that in Congress right now.”
A study by the Institute for the Study of Public Religion showed that the greatest support for Christian nationalist views comes from residents of the South.
The findings were based on interviews with more than 22,000 adults conducted in 2025.
The survey found that 56% of Republicans support or support Christian nationalism, compared with a quarter of independents and 17% of Democrats. A correlation was also found between support for Trump and support for Christian nationalism. Supporters of this ideology expressed support for political violence much more often than their compatriots.
The countries with the most Christian nationalist views cluster in the South. Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia and Oklahoma had the greatest support for this ideology. But ruby-colored Idaho has become a center of Christian nationalist thought as the home of influential pastor Doug Wilson, whose Church of Christ and its affiliated national educational and church networks helped shape a generation of far-right leaders. Wilson called for America to be governed as a distinctly Christian nation.
An Idaho pastor is calling on religious leaders across the U.S. to push back
Idaho pastor and author Ben Cremer said the school of thought should worry Americans.
“Every American’s life would be dictated by the set of beliefs held by one Christian sect, whether he was consistent with those beliefs or not,” he said. “Given the patriarchy, supremacy and racism entwined with the current brand of Christian nationalism, one could see women losing their right to vote and ethnic and religious minorities being marginalized and violated.”
Cremer said it is the responsibility of religious leaders to oppose what he sees as a perversion of Christianity.
“First, Jesus called us to love our neighbors as ourselves – this is part of His greatest commandment to us,” he said. “My neighbor is every human being. Christian nationalism actively harms and dehumanizes so many of my neighbors and our planet. It is simply unacceptable. Secondly, it does this harm in the name of my holy faith.”
Christian nationalism, until recently a marginal ideology, has come into the spotlight in recent years as Donald Trump became open to the movement’s ideas and even appointed some Christian nationalists to leading positions.
Trump’s nominee for defense secretary has close ties to Christian nationalists in Idaho
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, for example, is member of one of the branches of Christ Churchsporting Crusader tattoos and broke the separation of church and state in the military. Russ Vought, one of the architects of Project 2025 – the government’s Christian nationalist plan – is the director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget.
Deckman said that if Americans want to see Christian nationalism banished to the margins again, demographics are on their side.
“I think the answer is…vote,” she said. “I think, you know, that’s something that’s not necessarily going to change overnight. You know, younger Americans are more secular, they’re less likely to be conservative Christians. I think it’s just a matter of voting correctly and getting enough people who are willing to challenge those kinds of viewpoints in the Republican Party.”
This story was originally produced by Idaho Capital Sunwhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes Pennsylvania Capital-Star, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
