Majority of Republican Voters Say US Should Be Declared a ‘Christian Nation’

Far-right Republican lawmakers who have recently invoked Christian nationalist messages appear to be representing a growing portion of their voter base, according to a new poll released Wednesday showing that a sizable majority of Republicans believe in the identification of the U.S. as a “Christian nation.”

As Professors Stella Rouse and Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland wrote at Politico, the school’s critical issues poll found that while a majority of Republican voters agree that such a declaration would be unconstitutional, most also believe in declaring the U.S. as a “Christian nation”.

The professors surveyed 2,091 voters between May 6-16, 2022, first asking them “if they believed the Constitution would even allow the United States government to declare the U.S. a ‘Christian Nation'” and finding that 57% of Republicans—as well as more than 80% of Democrats—said no.

Yet “fully 61% of Republicans supported declaring the United States a Christian nation,” Rouse and Telhami wrote.

The poll, showing widespread disregard for one of the nation’s foundational documents, was released as government watchdogs issue warnings about a plot some Republican lawmakers are pushing to rewrite the Constitution.

The critical issues poll showed that older Republicans were more likely than Millennial voters and members of Generation Z—who range in age from 18 to 41—to think Christian nationalist beliefs should be codified, younger members of the party were also largely supportive.

“We see that 51% of Millennial Republicans and 51% of Generation Z Republicans want the declaration of the U.S. as a Christian nation,” wrote Rouse and Telhami.

More than 70% of Republicans born before 1965 supported such a declaration.

The poll results come as GOP candidates and elected officials have outwardly expressed Christian nationalist beliefs with greater frequency.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently advised students at Hillsdale College, a Christian school in Michigan, to “put on the full armor of God” and “stand firm against the left’s schemes” earlier this year, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) openly said in July that Republicans “should be Christian nationalists.”

“We need to be the party of nationalism and I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly,” said the congresswoman in July. Greene also suggested in June that those who warn against Christian nationalism are “domestic terrorists.”

On Wednesday, Greene responded to Politico‘s report on the University of Maryland poll with the words, “In God we trust.”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.