White Christians in the U.S. are the most likely faith group to see immigrants as a threat to the nation’s customs and values, according to a Public Religion Research Institute report published January 17.
Respondents were asked whether they believe that immigrants to the U.S. strengthen or threaten “traditional American customs and values.”
Most U.S. adults (55%) said immigrants strengthen (down one point from 2021), while 40% said they threaten (unchanged from 2021) these customs and values. The remaining 5% did not respond to the question (up two points from 2021).
Among the various demographic groups analyzed, two religious traditions were the only groups with a majority of respondents saying immigrants threaten the country’s customs and values: white evangelical Protestants (65%) and white mainline Protestants (53%). White Catholics were evenly split, with 50% saying they threaten the values and customs of the U.S.
By comparison, 40% of other Christian groups (Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Orthodox Christians, Hispanic Protestants and others not included in another faith grouping), 31% of Hispanic Catholics, 29% of Black Protestants, 27% of non-Christian religious traditions, and 27% of the religiously unaffiliated said immigrants threaten values and customs.
A similar pattern was seen when PRRI asked respondents if they agreed with the replacement theory, which the report defined as “a conspiracy theory touted by white supremacists that claims nonwhite people are invading or immigrating to the United States in order to push white voters and citizens into the minority.”
Most (64%) of U.S. adults completely or mostly disagree that “immigrants are invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background,” while affirmation of the replacement theory is most prominent among white Christians.
A majority (51%) of white evangelical Protestants completely or mostly agree with the replacement theory, followed by 41% of both white mainline Protestants and white Catholics.
By comparison, 26% of other Christian groups, 21% of non-Christian traditions, 21% of the religiously unaffiliated, 19% of Hispanic Catholics and 19% of Black Protestants completely or mostly agree.
White evangelical Protestants are outliers regarding questions on undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., as they are the only religious group without a majority supporting a pathway to citizenship. They also had the lowest number (21%) support a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and the highest number (49%) of respondents support the deportation of undocumented persons.
The full report is available here. The topline results are available here. The overall margin of error is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.
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