Ayana Trüper Political Polarization and Religious Media

Political Polarization and Religious Media

Research Proposal – Draft

Introduction
In the United States, religion and politics have always been closely connected, for
example, when God or the divine is mentioned in all of the 50 states, constitutions 1, or seeing
how any president was sworn in whilst placing a hand on a Bible. This shows that religious
beliefs and values have always been shaping political ideologies and policy decisions in the
United States. This has only been reinforced and amplified by the advent of mass media,
especially mass media relating to religion, in particular Christianity. Due to the media’s role
in forming public opinion, there has been growing concern about the impact of religious
media in its role of political polarization. A very important part of American media landscape
or a wide range of Christian television programs, radio shows, podcasts, websites, and social
media accounts, all of which have large audiences and target groups. Oftentimes these media
outlets promote a political agenda or play significant role in shaping the religious and
political beliefs of their audience. Currently, also, the deep divisions between the Republican
and Democratic Party in the United States have become increasingly obvious, bringing up the
potential role that religion could have in this political polarization. By oftentimes promoting
extreme political views and demonizing opposing ones, and it’s necessary to understand
whether religious media is contributing to this polarization.
What this research proposal is planning investigating is the relationship between religious
media and political polarization in the United States, with a special focus on Christianity.

Research Questions:
- How does Religious Media influence Political Polarization in the United States?
- How do different types of religious media, such as television programs, radio shows,
and websites, differ in their impact on political polarization?
- What factors contribute to the influence of religious media on political polarization,
such as audience demographics, media content, and media consumption patterns?

1
Sandstrom, Aleksandra. “God or the Divine Is Referenced in Every State Constitution,” Pew Research Center,
(August 17, 2017), https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/08/17/god-or-the-divine-is-referenced-in-
every-state-constitution/.

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Ayana Trüper Political Polarization and Religious Media

Literature Review
The following articles provide good insights into the singular topics:

„Putting Politics First: The Impact of Politics on American Religious and Secular
Orientations“ by David E. Campbell, Geoffrey C. Layman, John C. Green, and
Nathanael G. Sumaktoyo published in the American Political Science Review in 2018
In this study, the authors explore the relationship between political polarization and secular
orientation in regard to individuals, political ideologies in the United States.
According to it, political polarization has led to more clear alignment with religious and
secular identities. Meaning that especially Conservative Protestants and Catholics tend to
become more Republican and Democrats tend to consider themselves as active secularists.
Another finding is that oftentimes individuals who are more politically engaged tend to have
a stronger religious identity or a stronger secular identity towards their political ideology,
already showing signs of polarization into one of either direction.2

„Social media conversion: lessons from faith-based social media influencers for
public relations“ by Brian G. Smith Ph. D, Danielle Hallows, Maggie Vail, Alycia
Burnett & Caleb Porter published in the Journal of Public Relations Research in 2021
(“Journal of Public Relations Research: Vol 33, No 4 - Taylor & Francis”)
The study conducted by Brigham Young University from 2021 looks at the influence that
social media content creators have, and how their content might influence public relations.
The study uses qualitative methods and analysis by interviewing 17 social media influencers.
The patterns that emerge from answering the questions of the authors was that many consider
themselves, as called by God to share their faith, as well as the altruistically helping others.
Influencing others, looking at the political polarization happening in the United States some
of the interviewed have also mentioned that they became influencers to unite followers of the
church again. The study provides a good basis for the motivation that Christian influencers
could have, but what it is lacking is the mentioning of cooperation’s between these
influencers and firms. The way that content creators make money through corporations with

2
Campbell, David E., Geoffrey C. Layman, John C. Green, and Nathanael G. Sumaktoyo. “Putting Politics
First: The Impact of Politics on American Religious and Secular Orientations.” American Journal of Political
Science 62, no. 3 (2018): 551–65. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26598766.

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online shops or firms that pay them high money, so that influencers advertise for them on
their accounts. 3

„The Rise and Fall of American Televangelism“ by Jeffrey K. Hadden in The

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science in 1993
Even though this book already is 30 years old, it shows the importance and capability of
television, and how televangelists were able to use their influence and reach mass audiences
to promote, not only worship, but also their views on a range of issues such as abortion,
foreign policy and other matters. It also shows the ways how televangelism intersected with
more general cultural and political trends in American society. For example, how
televangelist was able to benefit from the rise of the religious right in the 1980s and 1990s,
and how through that they were able to partially shape the Conservative political agenda
during this period. For that, also highlights the controversies and scandals, such as abuse of
financial matters or sexual abuse. These scandals are also explained to be the reason that
public trust into televangelist has decreased significantly and contributed to their decline in
relevance.4

„Social Media, Political Polarization, and Political Disinformation: A Review of

the Scientific Literature“ by Joshua A. Tucker, Andrew Guess, Pablo Barberá, Cristian
Vaccari, Alexandra Siegel, Sergey Sanovich, Denis Stukal, and Brendan Nyhan in 2018
In this review the authors, outline ways in which popular social media platforms like
Facebook, and Twitter have revolutionised the landscape of political communication by
enabling individuals to consume and share news and information in ways that were
previously unimaginable. By examining the ways in which social media use is related to
political, polarisation defined that individuals was frequent social media interactions are more
likely to hold extreme political views and opinions and are less likely to be open to and
engage with opposing viewpoints. Further, the authors look at the role, the political
disinformation plays in shaping political attitudes and beliefs on social media, and how in
their findings is difficult to distinguish between genuine news and misinformation or so-
called fake news. Especially interesting and relevant about this report is the mention of
3
Smith, Brian G., Ph.D, Danielle Hallows, Maggie Vail, Alycia Burnett & Caleb Porter Social media
conversion: lessons from faith-based social media influencers for public relations, Journal of Public Relations
Research, 33:4, 231-249, (2021) DOI: 10.1080/1062726X.2021.2011728.
4
Hadden, Jeffrey K. “The Rise and Fall of American Televangelism.” The Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science 527 (1993): 113–30. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1048680.

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Ayana Trüper Political Polarization and Religious Media

algorithms and echo chambers, as well as the psychological mechanisms that make
individuals susceptible to this information like confirmation bias and selective exposure. 5

There is a lot more research and academic literature that would be useful for this
research proposal in building the background for political polarization, media outlets, and the
role of put in political polarization, and religion in media. But the purpose of this research
paper would be to fill the gap of connecting all three: religion, media, and political
polarization.

Strategy
To answer these research questions, the proposed study will employ a mixed-methods
approach, including both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. This will
include a survey of individuals' media consumption patterns and political beliefs, as well as
in-depth interviews with media professionals and policymakers. The study will also involve
content analysis of a range of Christian media outlets or Christian-affiliated media
personalities (f.e. Steven Crowder, Candace Owens, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker
Carlson), including television programs, radio shows, podcasts, and websites. This multi-
method approach will allow for a comprehensive exploration of the complex relationship
between religious media and political polarization in the United States. This is especially
because an estimated half of the American population. Also uses social media as the news
outlet according to the Pew Research Centre.6
Faith is a very personal experience, as well as the reasoning behind political opinions,
therefore it might be hard to measure the impact that media has on the political opinion of
citizens. However, potential ways to measure the impact of this online service could be
interviews of active listeners, as well as evaluations of listening and participating time, in
these programs. Further interviewing hosts from radio shows, TV worship, as well as content
creators openly showcasing their religion.
Further, all the participants that will be interviewed, will be asked to provide anonymous
insights into their opinions of specific political issues that are deemed relevant in determining

5
Tucker, Joshua Aaron, Andrew Guess, Pablo Barbera and, Cristian Vaccari, Alexandra Siegel, Sergey
Sanovich, Denis Stukal and Brendan Nyhan, Social Media, Political Polarization, and Political Disinformation:
A Review of the Scientific Literature (March 19, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3144139
or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3144139
6
Walker, Mason; Matsa, Katerina Eva "News Consumption Across Social Media in 2021". Pew Research
Center's Journalism Project (September 20, 2021). https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2021/09/20/news-
consumption-across-social-media-in-2021/.

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Ayana Trüper Political Polarization and Religious Media

political position of an individual. Anonymous, in this case means that the identities of
participants will be hidden, but they will be required to state their religious affiliation and
then read the political positions on issues like abortion, marriage/divorce, LGBTQ+ rights, as
well as race and immigration.

Expected Outcome
The expected outcome of the research paper is that political polarization is increasing
due to the media influence of Christian outlets or Christian-influenced outlets, one-sided of
Christians, increasingly becoming more Republican, but also Democrats becoming more
actively secular. As for the different types of religious media depends on the target group of
each outlet, estimating that social media and websites are more relevant to younger
demographic and television and radio programs, more relevant to an older demographic.

Conclusion
To conclude, the spread of mass media has led to the involvement of Christianity and
the push for political agendas to the audiences. The potential impact of this religious media,
especially on political polarization is a relevant concern, which is why this research proposal
aims to be able to investigate the relationship between religious media and political
polarization in the United States with a focus on Christianity. Lacks in existing literature,
especially in the connection between media, religion and political polarization called for the
necessity of this research.
By exploring how religious media influences political polarization, in which different types
of media, impacted and relevant precautions could be taken in order to maintain the
separation of church and state, as guaranteed in the first amendment of the constitution
through religious freedom.7

7
U.S. Const. amend. I, https://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm.

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Ayana Trüper Political Polarization and Religious Media

Bibliography

Sandstrom, Aleksandra. “God or the Divine Is Referenced in Every State

Constitution,” Pew Research Center, (August 17, 2017), https://www.pewresearch.org/short-
reads/2017/08/17/god-or-the-divine-is-referenced-in-every-state-constitution/.

Campbell, David E., Geoffrey C. Layman, John C. Green, and Nathanael G.

Sumaktoyo. “Putting Politics First: The Impact of Politics on American Religious and Secular
Orientations.” American Journal of Political Science 62, no. 3 (2018): 551–65.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/26598766.

Smith, Brian G., Ph.D, Danielle Hallows, Maggie Vail, Alycia Burnett & Caleb Porter
Social media conversion: lessons from faith-based social media influencers for public
relations, Journal of Public Relations Research, 33:4, 231-249, (2021) DOI:
10.1080/1062726X.2021.2011728.

Hadden, Jeffrey K. “The Rise and Fall of American Televangelism.” The Annals of
the American Academy of Political and Social Science 527 (1993): 113–30.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1048680.

Tucker, Joshua Aaron, Andrew Guess, Pablo Barbera and, Cristian Vaccari,
Alexandra Siegel, Sergey Sanovich, Denis Stukal and Brendan Nyhan, Social Media,
Political Polarization, and Political Disinformation: A Review of the Scientific Literature
(March 19, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3144139 or
http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3144139

Walker, Mason; Matsa, Katerina Eva "News Consumption Across Social Media in
2021". Pew Research Center's Journalism Project (September 20, 2021).
https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2021/09/20/news-consumption-across-social-media-
in-2021/.

U.S. Const. amend. I,

https://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm.