The Trump administration was marked by the ascendency of white evangelical political power. The Pew Research Center conducted a massive poll of 5,360 American adults to ascertain their expectations for shifts in political influence during the Biden administration. The study indicates that women, gay and lesbian people, and black people are expected to see the greatest gain in influence while evangelicals are expected to see the greatest decrease in influence. Among ethnic groups, whites people are most expected to see a decrease in influence. Worth noting, however, is that a greater percentage of those polled believe that white people will not have lesser influence than those who believed they would lose influence.
Paul Bedard reports in the Washington Examiner:
“The public’s views of how various groups will be impacted by Biden’s presidency are more similar to expectations for Barack Obama’s administration shortly before he became president in 2009. At that time, majorities thought younger people, poor people and black people would gain influence,” said Pew’s latest research.
Of 17 groups listed in asking 5,360 adults who will gain or lose influence in President Biden’s administration, evangelicals came up last. Some 50% said they would lose, while just 9% said gain.
On the gain side, 65% said black people would gain influence, the highest in the survey. It was 79% when Obama entered office.
Women were expected to have the second-most gains, followed by gay people.
Certainly, in his first weeks in office, Biden has favored liberals with more than 40 executive orders. He has appointed several top-level women, but men also have top slots.
Read the full article here.
Read the Pew Research Center report here.