A recent New York Times op-ed by Tom Edsall features research by Denison Associate Professor of Political Science Paul Djupe.

The opinion piece, “Trump Is Staking Out His Own Universe of ‘Alternative Facts’,” begins, “In less than a year, from May 2019 to March 2020, the share of weekly church-attending white Protestants convinced that Donald Trump was anointed by God to be president grew from 29.6 percent to 49.5 percent.

This finding — based on direct responses to the question: “How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Donald Trump was anointed by God to become president of the United States” — comes from surveys conducted by Paul A. Djupe and Ryan Burge, political scientists at Denison and Eastern Illinois Universities.”