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. 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. Gallup Daily tracking data reviewed in this analysis confirm that religion, along with race, is a significant factor in defining Republicans, independents, and Democrats. All in all, 47% of Republicans in the U.S. today can be classified as highly religious whites, compared with 24% of independents and 19% of Democrats. Implications Survey Methods
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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. Details on the classification process are available at the end of this story. Thus, Republicans are in the plurality among highly religious Americans.
Dudeism - Ordination by the Religion of The Big Lebowski 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. 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]? Which comes closer to your view -- [ROTATED: a presidential candidate's views on evolution are a legitimate indicator of whether he or she is qualified to be president, (or) a presidential candidate's views on evolution are not really relevant and therefore should not be discussed as part of the campaign]?
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.
Most religious groups in USA have lost ground, survey finds By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY When it comes to religion, the USA is now land of the freelancers. The percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. These dramatic shifts in just 18 years are detailed in the new American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), to be released today. "More than ever before, people are just making up their own stories of who they are. Among the key findings in the 2008 survey: • So many Americans claim no religion at all (15%, up from 8% in 1990), that this category now outranks every other major U.S. religious group except Catholics and Baptists. • Catholic strongholds in New England and the Midwest have faded as immigrants, retirees and young job-seekers have moved to the Sun Belt. • Baptists, 15.8% of those surveyed, are down from 19.3% in 1990. Religion as a hobby Social mobility a factor
'Nones' now 15% of population By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY Don't blame secularism for driving up the percentage of Americans who say they have no religion, says Barry Kosmin, co-researcher for the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS). "These people aren't secularized. They're not thinking about religion and rejecting it; they're not thinking about it at all," Kosmin says. A closer look at the "Nones" — people who said "None" when asked their religious identity — shows that this group (now 15% of Americans, up from 8% in 1990) opts out of traditional religious rites of passage: •40% say they had no childhood religious initiation ceremony such as a baptism, christening, circumcision, bar mitzvah or naming ceremony. •55% of those who are married had no religious ceremony. •66% say they do not expect to have a religious funeral. "Your parents may decide for you on baptism and your spouse has a say in your wedding, but when people talk about dying, they speak for themselves," says Kosmin.