A new nationwide survey reveals a stark cultural divide across the United States regarding the role of empathy in public life, with white evangelical Protestants standing apart from every other major religious group in their skepticism toward the sentiment. The findings from the annual American Values Survey, released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), illustrate a deepening philosophical schism over foundational moral values amid ongoing national debates concerning immigration, racial justice, and LGBTQ+ rights.
According to the survey data, 54% of white evangelical Protestants agreed that empathy can become dangerous when it leads people away from a society guided by God’s truth. At the same time, 42% of respondents within the same group agreed that empathy functions as a foundational moral value necessary for building a healthy society. This ambivalence sets white evangelicals apart from all other measured religious traditions in the country, where support for empathy as a core virtue remains overwhelmingly high.
In every other surveyed religious category, at least 65% of respondents endorsed empathy as a foundational moral value. Among Latter-day Saints, 65% supported the statement, followed by 73% of both white mainline Protestants and Hispanic Catholics. Higher levels of agreement appeared among Jewish Americans at 77%, respondents belonging to other non-Christian religions at 80%, and religiously unaffiliated Americans at 83%.
The survey highlights a broader quiet conflict unfolding within American Christianity regarding the boundaries of compassion and moral responsibility. High-profile conservative figures, ranging from evangelical pastors to prominent technology leaders, have increasingly characterized empathy as a vulnerability in contemporary political discourse. For instance, during a February 2025 interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, entrepreneur Elon Musk described empathy as the fundamental weakness of Western civilization, even while acknowledging its potential benefits and warning against what he views as its weaponization.
Beyond religious affiliations, the PRRI data uncovers a significant 30-point partisan gap concerning the value of empathy. Among registered Democrats, 84% agreed that empathy is a foundational moral value, compared with 54% of Republicans. Independent voters fell in between, with 70% endorsing the foundational-value statement. Although white evangelicals represent a distinct demographic group within these findings, the survey itself tracks religious and partisan results separately and does not establish the precise degree to which white evangelicals drive the broader gap between Democrats and Republicans.
The division over empathy also aligns closely with PRRI’s measures of Christian nationalism. Among individuals whom researchers classify as adherents of Christian nationalism—defined by support for a U.S. government and laws grounded in Christianity alongside the belief that Christians should exercise dominion over society—only 38% agreed that empathy is foundational. Conversely, 94% of those classified as rejecters of Christian nationalism endorsed empathy as foundational. Furthermore, six in 10 Christian nationalist adherents agreed that empathy can become dangerous, compared to just 6% of rejecters who shared that concern.
PRRI President and Founder Robert P. Jones pointed to these contrasting viewpoints in a statement accompanying the release. As Christian nationalist leaders attack the sentiment of empathy, a disturbing empathy gap has opened, separating Republicans and white evangelicals from most other Americans, Jones said, adding that the results raise vital questions regarding the shared moral foundations required to sustain a diverse democracy.
The survey was conducted online between August 20 and September 7, 2026, encompassing a sample of 5,200 adults drawn from Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, along with 339 additional adults recruited via opt-in panels to bolster sample sizes in smaller states. The respondents represented adults aged 18 and older across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level for the entire sample.
