Document Type

Thesis

Date of Completion

12-10-2021

Department

Communications

Academic Major

Public Relations

Faculty Advisor

Dr. James Miller

Abstract

White evangelicals overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. According to the Pew Research Center, 81% voted for him. That support baffled pundits at first but held up throughout his presidency. By the time the 2020 election season was ramping up, White evangelicals who supported Trump held more tightly to their beliefs, many taking to social media to convey their opinions. Since the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, over 600 outspoken Trump supporters have been arrested and charged for inciting violence in dispute of election results. This research is a thematic content analysis of the statements made on Twitter by twenty influential White evangelical leaders in the two weeks following the Capitol riot on January 6. Specifically, this research examines how White evangelical leaders framed in their tweets the events surrounding the January 6 insurrection. American popular culture has been indisputably shaped due to evangelicalism — from Veggie Tales to purity culture. How did evangelicalism potentially shape the public response to January 6? This research identified two dominant emerging themes that help explain how evangelical leaders framed the January 6 Capitol riots: (1) They were promoting evangelical practices, and (2) They were condemning violence.

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