God at the Grassroots 2016

Book excerpt: In God at the Grassroots 2016: The Christian Right in American Politics, a distinguished group of political scientists, many of whom have been studying the Christian Right for more than two decades, assess the 2016 elections from the standpoint of religious conservative activism. These elections, more than any that they have analyzed, best tell the story of the resilience of this movement and its enduring importance. The contributors address the evolution of the religious right movement for more than two decades and focus primarily on the movement’s role in the 2016 elections. The first section examines the broader national context, with chapters on the Republican nomination campaign, the general election, and the relationship between the religious right and the tea party. The second section comprises state-specific chapters, focusing primarily on the crucial states in the 2016 presidential contest. They conclude with lessons learned from the studies of the religious right in the elections from 1994 through 2016 and address directions for continued research on the subject. Contributions by Joseph Cella, Kimberly H. Conger, Matthew Corrigan, Paul A. Djupe, Christopher P. Gilbert, James L. Guth, Donna R. Hoffman, Ted G. Jelen, Alexander Jensen, Christopher W. Larimer, Mikael Pelz, Sucheta Pyakuryal, Carin Robinson, Mark J. Rozell, Corwin E. Smidt, Oran P. Smith, Kenneth D. Wald, Clyde Wilcox, and Abigail Zofchak