Reality Check on Trump's Power in New PRRI Poll: Conversations with Jen Rubin and Mike Podhorzer
Plus, upcoming speaking event on Friday.
Dear #WhiteTooLong readers,
In the wake of the release of PRRI’s 2025 American Values Survey last week at The Brookings Institution, I’ve been having a lot of conversations about the findings. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can read the full survey findings here. I’m sharing below two timely conversations I had with Jennifer Rubin at The Contrarian and Michael Podhorzer about the findings.
The survey shows an important and hopeful signs for democracy. Yes, we are polarized. But the survey definitively shows that our polarization is asymmetric—it’s not two parties drifting apart equally, but Trump, the Republican Party, and white evangelicals moving away from most Americans. The survey also shows what we miss about the nature of our divides when the media ignores their ethno-religious nature.
Onward-
Robby
P.S. I’ll be speaking at the “Freedom Rising Conference” at Middle Collegiate Church in New York City this Friday morning. There are still both in-person and virtual tickets left for this event. Register here.
Fascism is the Only Option for White Christian Nationalists: Robert P. Jones on the Latest PRRI Survey
In my conversation with Jennifer Rubin at The Contrarian, I note that while Republicans and white evangelical Protestants are becoming increasingly extreme and moving away from the center, most Americans agree that Trump has gone too far and hold unfavorable views of the president. Moreover, most Americans reject Trump’s cruel anti-immigrant policies. Click below to watch our 20-minute conversation about PRRI’s 2025 American Values Survey.
Robert P. Jones on White Christianity and Asymmetric Polarization
In our Substack Live chat, Mike and I discussed new findings from PRRI’s 2025 American Values Survey, conducted with Brookings—which shows that most Americans believe the administration has gone too far on things like ICE detentions, closing government agencies, and cutting funding to research and universities. Strong majorities share basic values about pluralism and inclusion, including the idea that we should give unauthorized immigrants living here a path to citizenship, not round them up and deport them.
And when given a choice between calling Trump a “dangerous dictator” or a “strong leader,” even larger majorities choose “dictator” now (including a nine-point jump among independents, two-thirds of whom now choose this option) than the first time the survey asked this question at Trump’s 100-day mark.
ICYMI
Watch the release event for the 2025 American Values Survey—our 16th annual survey—below.
I look forward to to that conference. Onward!