Religion in American Culture -- Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Republicans Remain Disproportionately White and Religious. PRINCETON, NJ -- About 9 out of 10 Republicans are non-Hispanic whites, and more than half of these are highly religious. That compares with 62% of the Democratic rank-and-file that is white and largely less religious, with blacks and Hispanics making up a much more substantial part of that party's base. These results are based on aggregated data from more than 220,000 Americans surveyed from early January through Aug. 15 of this year as part of Gallup Daily tracking.
Whites classified as highly religious are those who say religion is important in their daily lives and who report attending religious services weekly or almost every week. Hispanics include everyone who identifies as Hispanic, regardless of race. The mixture of religion and politics in the United States came to the fore again this past weekend at Glenn Beck's high-visibility "Restoring Honor" rally in Washington, D.C. Beck mentioned God and religion frequently in his remarks. Implications Survey Methods. Religious Intensity Remains Powerful Predictor of Politics.
PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans' religious intensity continues to be a major predictor of party identification. A new analysis of more than 29,000 interviews Gallup conducted in November finds that Republicans outnumber Democrats by 12 percentage points among Americans who are classified as highly religious, while Democrats outnumber Republicans by 30 points among those who are not religious. The current analysis is based on 29,192 interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking during the month of November. Party identifiers include those who initially identify with one of the two major parties plus independents who, in a follow-up question, say they lean toward one party or the other.
Gallup has developed the religious segments based on responses to questions measuring the personal importance of religion and church attendance. The basic relationship between religiosity and party identification is quite strong and quite straightforward. Differences by Race and Ethnicity Obama Approval. Evolution, Creationism, Intelligent Design. Next, we'd like to ask about your views on two different explanations for the origin and development of life on earth. Do you think -- [ITEMS ROTATED] -- is -- [ROTATED: definitely true, probably true, probably false, (or) definitely false]?
A. Evolution, that is, the idea that human beings developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life B. Creationism, that is, the idea that God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years If a presidential candidate stated that he or she DID not believe in the theory of evolution, would that make you -- [ROTATED: much more likely to vote for that candidate, a little more likely, not make a difference either way, would it make you a little less likely, (or) much less likely to vote for that candidate]? How much have you, personally, thought about these different explanations for how human beings came to exist on earth -- a great deal, a moderate amount, not much, or not at all?
One-Third of Americans Believe the Bible is Literally True. PRINCETON, NJ -- About one-third of the American adult population believes the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally word for word. This percentage is slightly lower than several decades ago. The majority of those Americans who don't believe that the Bible is literally true believe that it is the inspired word of God but that not everything it in should be taken literally.
About one in five Americans believe the Bible is an ancient book of "fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man. " Belief in a literal Bible is strongly correlated with indicators of religion, including church attendance and identification with a Protestant or other non-Catholic Christian faith. There is also a strong relationship between education and belief in a literal Bible, with such belief becoming much less prevalent among those who have college educations. Background One's view of the authority of the Bible has been and remains a key focal point for many religions today. Campbell and Putnam: Charity's Religious Edge. An in-depth look at USA's religious beliefs, practices | USATODAY.com.