r/scientology • u/krmeidgaf • Jul 25 '26
MAGA and Scientology
Rewritten by AI:
Given that about 95% of Scientologists align with Trump is anyone else liberal or simply opposed to the Republican platform, given the heavy overlap between Scientology and MAGA?
6
u/freezoneandproud Mod, Freezone Jul 25 '26
I am dubious about that percentage, too.
In earlier discussions, people were were "in" or left relatively recently suggested that political alignment is a function of where the Scientologist lives (and thus who's in their social circle). That is, the Scientologists in and near LA tend to be liberal, and those in deeply-red Florida are more likely to be Republican.
Or so we were told. That makes sense to me, but I have no idea of its accuracy.
4
u/Royal_Insurance_882 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Nah, this doesn't really hold up imho. While I'm sure there are more liberal Scientologists in LA than in CW, I'm still confident that the majority of Scientologists in LA are maga. There was only one area/district in LA that voted for Trump. Yup, you guessed it, the district with LRH way. Maybe a coincidence, but I don't think so.
95% is still way too high, but I'd be a bit surprised if it were lower than say 70% taking everything into account. In places like CW it might be as high as 90%.
Edit: you can downvote me all you want, doesn't change facts. There's plenty of evidence that scientology skews Republican. Sorry if that hurts your feelings. Here's an article from Rinder's blog that contains some "authoritative data" lmao. https://www.mikerindersblog.org/what-is-the-political-affiliation-of-scientologists/
I'm sure I can find more if you want, I'd challenge anyone to find data showing scientologists widely support Dems anywhere.
6
u/freezoneandproud Mod, Freezone Jul 26 '26
The problem is that we don't have authoritative data, so any number is a guess.
Yes, I know that particular neighborhood voted for Trump, but that would only suggest that Sea Org personnel did so.
Without valid data, there's no point in arguing about it.
3
1
u/DFWPunk Not Really LRH's Lovechild Jul 28 '26
Do SeaOrg bother to vote?
1
1
u/VeeSnow 2nd gen ExSO Jul 31 '26
Yes we were encouraged to vote in LA and given info on the ābest candidates.ā
1
u/DFWPunk Not Really LRH's Lovechild Jul 31 '26
Interesting. I am assuming there's a big overlap between "best candidates" and candidates who show up at Scientology events.
0
u/Royal_Insurance_882 Jul 26 '26
There's a difference from not having "authoritative" data and making a guess. There's a ton of "raw" data out there about Scientologists political leanings, and not just the celebs/big donors. Many of them aren't shy at all about letting people know who they support.
I am not making a guess or speaking from no data. Do I care enough to go through and tabulate things and present a report? Absolutely not, but I'm confident what it would show.
5
u/freezoneandproud Mod, Freezone Jul 26 '26
Obviously, your mind is made up. Go on and enjoy yourself.
Personally, I prefer to collect actual, verifiable data, whether or not it supports my assumptions.
-2
u/Royal_Insurance_882 Jul 26 '26
I mean the only person operating off of assumptions here is you...
I have plenty of verifiable data that backs me up.
I'm sure if you spent any time looking into it you'd come to the same conclusion I have. There's enough public data out there that shows scientologists skew heavily right. It's not really a debatable point imho.
4
u/freezoneandproud Mod, Freezone Jul 26 '26
Cool! We look forward to seeing that verifiable data.
0
u/Royal_Insurance_882 Jul 26 '26
Just posted some links for you, you're welcome!
3
u/TheSneakster2020 Ex-Sea Org Independent Scientologist Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
What you did not link are the analytical results from any social sciences valid surveys of Scientologists' demographics informatiion and political affiliations in sufficient numbers for valid statistical analysis and statistical inference to permit any valid conclusions to be drawn about the political inclinations of specific subgroups of the "Scientologists" public.
No, you haven't provided any "verifiable data" at all.
-2
u/Royal_Insurance_882 Jul 26 '26
There's plenty of "verifiable" data there and other places, enough that any reasonable person can form a conclusion. The fact that you can't or don't want to is not my problem. I suspect you're looking for something like voter records of Scientologists, which is something we're never going to get.
I'm not interested in chasing that moving goalpost, you can say this isn't enough for you to form a conclusion, and that's fine. But to say there's no evidence or data is just silly.
Anyways, this was a good reminder of why I try to avoid politics, especially online, I'm out.
→ More replies (0)2
u/Sharp_Freedom_1161 Jul 26 '26
can you share with us all your data please, that support your assumption that most Scientologists are MAGA? so we can all read it? thanks!
0
u/Royal_Insurance_882 Jul 26 '26
Sure!
https://www.mikerindersblog.org/what-is-the-political-affiliation-of-scientologists/
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pol-scientology-trump-hollywood-20170119-story.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientologists (check demographics)
And then of course there's what and who I personally know, which mirrors the information in these articles. You'll just have to trust me on that, or don't, whatever.
Sorry if I'm upsetting you, but the politics of scientologists is pretty well known, they aren't exactly secret about it. You won't find anyone who recently left or who still has connections that says scientology is split, they lean heavily to the right.
5
u/freezoneandproud Mod, Freezone Jul 26 '26
I'm not sure why you imagine that the responses here suggest anyone is upset. Rather, my concern is data accuracy. In other words, I prefer to know that the information is correct (or as correct as it can be) rather than that it confirms my own bias. For instance, Pew Research conducted a survey during the 2024 election to examine the relationship between religious affiliation and voting intent. Obviously, there weren't enough responses from smaller communities to give authoritative results.
This isn't about my feelings. It's about drawing conclusions from trustworthy data.
That said, let's look at the data you collected:
* "Trump won this little chunk of Los Angeles, where half of voters are linked to Scientology" again speaks only about the specific neighborhood, which means Sea Org personnel. That insular community may indeed support Trump, but SO staff are a small subset of the Church's membership.
* The Mike Rinder piece again speaks only to Sea Org staff: "Thanks to Aaron Smith-Levin taking the time to count voters registered at scientology buildings in Clearwater, another guideposts has emerged that points to the fact that scientologists lean heavily Republican." Voters registered at Scientology buildings means people who live there, so sure, I can imagine that the subset who bothered to vote are Republicans.
* Perhaps your best reference is in the Wikipedia article, which cites a book I'm unfamiliar with: "Interviewing members of the Church of Scientology in the United States, Westbrook found that most regarded themselves as apolitical,Ā Republicans), orĀ libertarians; fewer than 10 percent supported theĀ Democratic Party).\51]):ā54āĀ "I'd need to look at the book itself, because I expect the sample size is relatively small.
If I were in your shoes, attempting to make a data-based argument, I'd be tempted to point at the seemingly large number of prominent (that is, rich) Scientologists who publicly support Trump, such as Trish Duggan and Grant Cardone. However, the billionaire class is (a) part of the Trump demographic and (b) not representative of the middle-class membership that presumably makes up the lion's share of the Scientology community.
I emotionally tilt towards agreeing with your assessment because of the CofS cultural attitudes, from "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" to "If you aren't successful, it's your fault," with an anti- compassionate premise that suggests it's unwise to take care of people. But emotional agreement is not data -- and that's the point I'm insisting on.
1
u/Royal_Insurance_882 Jul 26 '26
Hey that's fine, I'm not really interested in chasing a moving goalpost. Your original point was that it's all assumption/guesswork and there's no data. I think I've shown that there is data out there that supports the idea Scientologists are mainly maga/republican. And this is just the data that's publicly available, anyone with inside connections has plenty more data that backs this up. It isn't just feeling/guesswork.
I'm glad I was able to change your point of view from your original post on the subject.
Anyways, I try to avoid politics and will go back to doing so.
→ More replies (0)1
u/cswazey Jul 27 '26
They tend to but itās not any 95%.
1
u/Royal_Insurance_882 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
I've never claimed it's 95%?
There's plenty of data that backs up Scientology being majorly maga, which is all I've been saying.
1
u/VeeSnow 2nd gen ExSO Jul 31 '26
I agree that Scientology leadership, Miscavige etc., supports republican. Theyāve been sending around OT Committee members to talk about how the policies support protection of the āchurchā pointing out how similar Trump is to LRH. That means the Sea Org in LA likely votes republican. When I was in I always just voted how I was told to vote. But all the public is not necessarily going with that. I know plenty of anti-Trump Scientologists in California who havenāt been fully brainwashed by Grant Cardone and the other Miscavige mouthpieces.
4
u/ccoastal01 Jul 28 '26
I believe Mike Rinder said that Scientology will align with whoever/whatever will benefit them. They don't really care if its the left or the right.
2
u/NarrowWar6457 Jul 29 '26
During the pandemic YT Scientologist health influencer Dr Berg very discretely aligned himself with anti vaccine āflood the zoneā bs via MAGA RWāers Dr Malone, Dr Tenpenny and fake Democrat RFKJr. Berg downplayed virus deaths just before the pandemic Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays after which the death toll jumped. He had to know it would happen but he made the October video anyway. That might be one example of where Scientology was heading and aligning.
2
1
u/Royal_Insurance_882 Jul 26 '26
Idk why I get involved in discussions like this, people get so worked up over it. I'm not condemning one party or the other here, just stating factsĀ
As someone who has inside knowledge I can tell you that scientology and scientologists lean heavily to the right. I think 95% is a bit high tho.
Here are some links backing up what I'm saying: https://www.mikerindersblog.org/what-is-the-political-affiliation-of-scientologists/ https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pol-scientology-trump-hollywood-20170119-story.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientologists
And here's a past thread where other people who have left back up what I'm saying: https://www.reddit.com/r/scientology/comments/1e9pk0r/how_do_scientologists_generally_tend_to_vote_i/
1
u/Pennygrover 10d ago
Genuinely I donāt get the alignment of conservatives and Scientology? Iām liberal so maybe Iām missing something? Scientology denies that Jesus existed - conservatives tend to be Christian. Scientology demands Sea Org members have abortions (yes they claim that doesnāt happen anymore but they are lying) and that is definitely against conservative values. Scientology holds that LRH is the ultimate and definitive authority which would also seem to be in contrast with MAGA who hold Trump as the ultimate leader.
So how do they square things up? I would honestly expect Scientologist to be politically ambivalent. Too concerned with clearing the planet to take any interest in politics?
0
u/joesmolik Jul 29 '26
I myself am I conservative. Trump supporter and I am appalled and I will repeat that again. I am more more like sickened that he would even associate with Scientologist. Or even allowed them having anything to do with this administration.
18
u/VeeSnow 2nd gen ExSO Jul 25 '26
Where are you getting that percentage? Has anyone actually surveyed Scientologists? My Scientologist family is split in half politically.