The Sunday Interview: Leah Payne with Dr. Melissa Deckman (PRRI) on Measuring Christian Nationalism (PRRI’s 2025 American Values Atlas)

Straight White American Jesus

Axis Mundi Media: Bradley Onishi + Daniel Miller

News, Politics

4.7 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 February 2026

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Melissa Deckman, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and political scientist specializing in gender, religion, and public opinion, joins host Leah Payne, author of God Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music (Oxford University Press, 2024) and host of Spirit & Power: Charismatics & Politics in American Life. In this Sunday interview, Leah Payne talks with Dr. Melissa Deckman about PRRI’s February 2026 release of findings from the 2025 American Values Atlas—a massive nationwide survey (22,000+ adults across all 50 states) that maps the reach of Christian nationalism and its intersections with race, religious practice, party, geography, age, education, media trust, and attitudes toward political violence. Deckman explains what PRRI means by “Christian nationalism,” why PRRI measures it with a five-item scale (instead of asking people whether they identify with the label), and what the data can—and cannot—tell us about religion and politics in the U.S. today. Mapping Christian Nationalism Across the 50 States (Insights from PRRI’s 2025 American Values Atlas) Charismatic Revival Fury: The New Apostolic Reformation (Matthew D. Taylor / Axis Mundi Media) Right Wing Watch on Sean Feucht and federal partnerships tied to America’s 250th anniversary programming Dara Delgado, “Black Pentecostal and charismatic Christians are boosting their visibility in politics — a shift from the past” Melissa Deckman, The Politics of Gen Z: How the Youngest Voters Will Shape Our Democracy,(Columbia University Press) Melissa Deckman, School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics, (Georgetown University Press) Ansley Quiros, Ph.D., PRRI Spotlight: Why Black Americans Identify as Christian Nationalists: Religiosity, Theology, and History Matter Michael R. Fischer Jr., PRRI Spotlight, Understanding Differences Between Black and White Christian Nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers Links and resources mentionedFind Dr. Melissa Deckman at PRRI, LinkedIn, Substack and BlueSkyFind Dr. Leah Payne at drleahpayne.com, subscribe on Substack, follow her on most social media platforms at @drleahpayne, and listen along at Spirit & Power: Charismatics & Politics in American Life, and Rock that Doesn’t Roll: the Story of Christian Rock Subscribe for $3.65: ⁠https://axismundi.supercast.com/⁠ Subscribe to our free newsletter: ⁠https://swaj.substack.com/⁠ Order American Caesar by Brad Onishi: ⁠https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/⁠ Donate to SWAJ: https://axismundi.supercast.com/donations/new Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Axis Mundy
0:07.0	Axis Moondy
0:11.0	I'm gonna be a lot of Welcome to Straight White American Jesus Sunday interview.
0:33.0	I'm Leah Payne, author of God gave rock and roll to you, a history of contemporary
0:37.2	Christian music, and a scholar of religion,ave Rock and Roll to You, a history of contemporary Christian music,
0:38.5	and a scholar of religion, politics, and pop culture in the USA and beyond. And I'm speaking
0:44.0	today with Dr. Melissa Deckman, the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, P-R-R-I.
0:50.5	Dr. Deckman is a political scientist who studies the impact of gender, religion, and age on public opinion and political behavior.
0:58.6	Dr. Deckman is also author of a really excellent book, The Politics of Gen Z, Essential Reading for the 2020s, which tells the story of Gen Z's growing political participation.
1:09.7	In February of 26, PRRI released findings from its
1:13.9	2025 American Values Atlas, a nationwide survey conducted throughout 2025 with more than 22,000
1:21.3	adults across all 50 states. A key question in the report, how widespread is Christian nationalism? According to PRRI's data,
1:31.9	about one third of Americans qualify as either adherents or sympathizers of Christian nationalist
1:37.6	ideas, while two-thirds fall into more skeptical or rejecting categories. The survey maps how these views intersect race,
1:46.8	religious practice, party affiliation, media trust, geography, age, and education,
1:52.1	revealing clear patterns across regions and religious communities. In this episode, we will unpack
1:59.0	with Dr. Deckman, what PRRI measured, how they measured it,
2:03.2	and what these results can and cannot tell us about religion and politics in the United
2:08.1	States today.
2:09.4	Full disclosure, I'm a PRRI affiliated scholar.
2:13.6	I've made regular use of their data in my writings over the years.
2:17.9	Welcome, Dr. Duckman.
	...

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