Religion Poll Finds Empathy Gap Among Voters

In its 17th annual American Values Survey, the Public Religion Research Institute described the country’s direction as a darkening mood. A majority of Americans say the country and the economy are heading in the wrong direction, up around 10 percentage points from the 2025 survey. And the frustration crosses political divides. With only two weeks until the midterm elections, Democrats have an enthusiasm advantage while Republicans are becoming more pessimistic about the Trump administration. When the survey dug into why, PRRI found a notable gap not only in policy but also in views about empathy.

The report’s authors discussed their findings at an event at the Brookings Institute on Tuesday. The 70-page report is based on a survey with more than 5,500 respondents from a random probability sample. President and founder Robert Jones said the ratios of dissatisfied voters have grown dramatically.

“If we go back two years ago, we had the same question [views of the economy and the way the U.S. deals with other countries] on here. The number of Republicans saying the country is heading in the wrong direction has in fact doubled,” Jones said at the Brookings Institute on Tuesday. “I think here that this movement, particularly 52% of Republicans saying the economy is heading in the wrong direction, is really notable.”

Trump amassed a broad coalition in 2024, with gains among young voters and voters of color. But that support could be eroding, PRRI found. Among registered voters who plan on casting a ballot, black voters favored Democratic candidates 69% to 8%. In 2024, Trump nearly doubled his support among black voters from 8% to 15%.

The greatest swing has occurred among Hispanic voters, specifically Protestants. For the first time in recent history, most Hispanic Protestants voted for Trump and the Republican ticket in 2024. Now, only 31% of those voters view him favorably, down from 51% in 2024.

Young male voters are also turning away from the GOP. Men ages 18 to 29 said they favored Democrats 42% to 32%. While most white voters and evangelical Christian voters still express deep support for Trump and the Republican tickets, any losses could be the deciding factor in a number of tied congressional races.

Nevertheless, the two parties are diametrically opposed and motivated this year. When asked what the greatest threat to the country was, around 82% of Democrats answered “the MAGA movement.” But when Republicans were asked the same question, 72% said the Democratic Socialists of America poses the greatest threat.

PRRI also asked respondents for their views on an array of political issues. Only around 52% of all voters said they have confidence in elections, though they disagreed on the issue. Republicans said the biggest problem was ineligible voters casting ballots, while Democrats said the problem is eligible voters being blocked from the polls. Six in 10 Americans said undocumented immigrants should have a pathway to citizenship, but support declined among Republicans and white evangelical Protestants.

One point of agreement was a new position on Israel. Most Americans (64%) said they prefer the United States to be known as a reliable neighbor to Israel instead of a mighty nation. White evangelical Protestants were evenly divided on the question, while 57% of Republicans preferred that the U.S. be known as a mighty nation that does not hesitate to use force.

But paths diverged the most around empathy and how it should inform policy. PRRI gave respondents two statements to agree or disagree with: Empathy is a foundational moral value that helps build a healthy society, or empathy can become dangerous when it leads people away from building a society guided by God’s truth. Around 54% of Republicans agreed with the former. Among Republicans who have a favorable view of Trump, the percentage was even lower. Nearly four in 10 Republicans opted for the second statement, showing more support compared to previous years, especially among white evangelical Protestants.

“Now we find that today it is a majority, 64% of white evangelicals, who affirm that second statement,” Jones said. “They're the only religious group in the country that that is true for. Every other religious group is basically about two thirds the other direction, picking that empathy as a foundational moral value.”

In the past year, several evangelical authors have published books warning that left-wing politics weaponize a sense of empathy to support permissive border policies among other things. At the Tuesday event, panelists took issue with that position.

“It’s another one of these things where I believe that Democrats, Republicans, evangelicals, and others are talking past each other,” American University professor David Barker said on the panel. He highlighted two particular authors, Allie Beth Stuckey and Joe Rigney. “They specifically are talking about this notion of completely inhabiting the perspective of another person to the point that it makes it difficult for you to hold them accountable … but it winds up providing a permission structure for cruelty.”

Barker also noted the change across Republican administrations. President George W. Bush championed an idea of compassionate conservatism, which gave rise to public support programs like providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants and the creation of the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in other countries.

“The current iteration of the Christian Right is significantly different than the mid-2000s iteration,” Barker said.