Who are my people

I was looking at some Pew polling data the other day. How does one end up looking at Pew polling data? A very short detour before we get to the data.

I’ve been listening to Never Trump Republicans consistently over the last eight years or so. Rick Wilson was my gateway drug to the Never Trump movement. Rick Wilson is an especially entertaining figure.

Wilson appeared regularly on a podcast that I listened to in 2017-2019, called With Friends Like These, with Ana Marie Cox. I never missed the episodes with Wilson. He had so much insider information about the Republican party, and he hated Donald Trump. He wrote a book entitled, Everything Trump Touches Dies, in 2018. Yes, in 2018! You remember. The good old days. When we thought Robert Mueller was going to save us. If feels like a lifetime ago. Here’s one of the first episodes that I ever listened to.

Since then, I have faithfully listened to former Republicans, mainly from The Lincoln Project and, more recently, the Bulwark. It’s been quite a journey.

These men and woman are often as befuddled as I am, which is reassuring. But they are now in the minority of their movement, which is not reassuring. The MAGA movement is the conservative movement.

The Never Trumpers are still in the process of deconstructing. After almost a decade of watching their movement go completely insane, they are still struggling to come to grips with it.

There is a lot that they would like to salvage from conservatism. It’s hard to leave an ideology. It’s painful.

They don’t want to believe that they played a role in the creation of the MAGA monster. I get it. They want MAGA to be a distortion, not a culmination.

And they want to show their conservative friends and former friends that they are still conservative. So they all support Israel and make fun of college protestors. But hey, one step at a time.

All this got me wondering about polling data on religion, politics and culture. When I look at polling of Americans on the intersection of religion, politics, and culture, who are my people?

As you can see above, when Barack Obama was elected in 2008, Protestant Christians were evenly split as Democrats and Republicans. That was easily the best, most encouraging election of my lifetime. Since then, I have remained committed to liberal values, while a majority of Protestant Christians have not.

Here is a clearer picture of this trend.

A majority of Atheists (67%) and Agnostics (57%) identify as Very liberal/Liberal. No other group is over 50%. I identify as Very Liberal. Only 20% of Mainline Christians (think classic denominations, like Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, etc) identify as Very Liberal/Liberal, and just 7% of Evangelicals.

Here’s another helpful chart. This one only applies to White U.S. adults, though as we’ll see, this is a common trend. The more religious you are, the more conservative you are.

Again, I am a lifelong Democrat, and honestly, I would join a more liberal party, like a Democratic socialist party, in a heartbeat. I’m simply not aligned with highly religious people. And this trend (the more religious you are, the more conservative you are) holds for Hispanic and Asian Americans.

Here are two more charts that show similar trends, though these are (maybe?) a bit more encouraging.

Evangelical Christians and American Muslims are the most intolerant groups when it comes to the acceptance of homosexuality. Though it should be noted that American Muslims are more accepting of homosexuality than Evangelicals. Thankfully, acceptance of homosexuality is only underwater with Evangelicals, Mormons (acceptance has steadily increased since 2007), and Muslims. This is progress. But again, it’s a total non-issue for Atheists and Agnostics.

One last chart.

Once again, I find myself with the Atheists and Agnostics. Amongst the religiously affiliated (of any kind), those who think the acceptance of transgender people is a “change for the better” is 32%, while 45% say it is a “change for the worse.”

Again, Evangelicals are the most intolerant group, with only 18% saying that the greater acceptance of transgender people is a “change for the better” and 64% saying it is a “change for the worse.” The second most intolerant group is Mormons, with 31% saying acceptance of transgender people is a “change for the better,” and 55% saying it is a “change for the worse.”

Amongst the religiously unaffiliated, it’s 58% “change for the better” and 22% “change for the worse.” And those numbers are held down by the “Nothing in particular” crowd. Atheists and Agnostics are overwhelmingly supportive of the transgender community.

On issue after issue, my views, my values, are overwhelmingly shared by Atheists and Agnostics in the United States, and largely rejected by Christians, especially by white Evangelical Christians.

Know who your people are, and act accordingly.