For our latest survey data about views of religion’s role in public life, read our 2026 report, “How Americans Feel About Religion’s Influence in Government and Public Life.”

A new Pew Research Center survey finds that 80% of U.S. adults say religion’s role in American life is shrinking – a percentage that’s as high as it’s ever been in our surveys.

Most Americans who say religion’s influence is shrinking are not happy about it. Overall, 49% of U.S. adults say both that religion is losing influence and that this is a bad thing. An additional 8% of U.S. adults think religion’s influence is growing and that this is a good thing.

Together, a combined 57% of U.S adults – a clear majority – express a positive view of religion’s influence on American life.

The survey also finds that about half of U.S. adults say it’s “very” or “somewhat” important to them to have a president who has strong religious beliefs, even if those beliefs are different from their own. But relatively few Americans view either of the leading presidential candidates as very religious: 13% of Americans say they think President Joe Biden is very religious, and just 4% say this about former President Donald Trump.

Overall, there are widespread signs of unease with religion’s trajectory in American life. This dissatisfaction is not just among religious Americans. Rather, many religious and nonreligious Americans say they feel that their religious beliefs put them at odds with mainstream culture, with the people around them and with the other side of the political spectrum. For example:

• 48% of U.S. adults say there’s “a great deal” of or “some” conflict between their religious beliefs and mainstream American culture, up from 42% in 2020.
• 29% say they think of themselves as religious minorities, up from 24% in 2020.
• 41% say it’s best to avoid discussing religion at all if someone disagrees with you, up from 33% in 2019.
• 72% of religiously unaffiliated adults – those who identify, religiously, as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – say conservative Christians have gone too far in trying to control religion in the government and public schools; 63% of Christians say the same about secular liberals.

These are among the key findings of a new Pew Research Center survey, conducted Feb. 13-25, 2024, among a nationally representative sample of 12,693 U.S. adults.

This report examines:

• Religion’s role in public life
• U.S. presidential candidates and their religious engagement
• Christianity’s place in politics, and “Christian nationalism”

The survey also finds wide partisan gaps on questions about the proper role for religion in society, with Republicans more likely than Democrats to favor religious influence in governance and public life. For instance:

• 42% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say that when the Bible and the will of the people conflict, the Bible should have more influence on U.S. laws than the will of the people. Just 16% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say this.
• 21% of Republicans and GOP leaners say the federal government should declare Christianity the official religion of the United States, compared with 7% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.

Moral and religious qualities in a president

Almost all Americans (94%) say it is “very” or “somewhat” important to have a president who personally lives a moral and ethical life. And a majority (64%) say it’s important to have a president who stands up for people with their religious beliefs.

About half of U.S. adults (48%) say it is important for the president to hold strong religious beliefs. Fewer (37%) say it’s important for the president to have the same religious beliefs as their own.

Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to value religious qualities in a president, and Christians are more likely than the religiously unaffiliated to do so. For example:

• Republicans and GOP leaners are twice as likely as Democrats and Democratic leaners to say it is important to have a president who has the same religious beliefs they do (51% vs. 25%).
• 70% of White evangelical Protestants say it is important to have a president who shares their religious beliefs. Just 11% of religiously unaffiliated Americans say this.

Views of Biden, Trump and their religious engagement

Relatively few Americans think of Biden or Trump as “very” religious. Indeed, even most Republicans don’t think Trump is very religious, and even most Democrats don’t think Biden is very religious.

• 6% of Republicans and GOP leaners say Trump is very religious, while 44% say he is “somewhat” religious. Nearly half (48%) say he is “not too” or “not at all” religious.
• 23% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say Biden is very religious, while 55% say he is somewhat religious. And 21% say he is not too or not at all religious.

Though they don’t think Trump is very religious himself, most Republicans and people in religious groups that tend to favor the Republican Party do think he stands up at least to some extent for people with their religious beliefs. Two-thirds of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP (67%) say Trump stands up for people with their religious beliefs “a great deal,” “quite a bit” or “some.” About the same share of White evangelical Protestants (69%) say this about Trump.

Similarly, 60% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, as well as 73% of Jewish Americans and 60% of Black Protestants, say Biden stands up for people with their religious beliefs a great deal, quite a bit or some.

Overall, views of both Trump and Biden are generally unfavorable.

• White evangelical Protestants – a largely Republican group – stand out as having particularly favorable views of Trump (67%) and unfavorable views of Biden (86%).
• Black Protestants and Jewish Americans – largely Democratic groups – stand out for having favorable views of Biden and unfavorable views of Trump.

Views on trying to control religious values in the government and schools

Americans are almost equally split on whether conservative Christians have gone too far in trying to push their religious values in the government and public schools, as well as on whether secular liberals have gone too far in trying to keep religious values out of these institutions.

Most religiously unaffiliated Americans (72%) and Democrats (72%) say conservative Christians have gone too far. And most Christians (63%) and Republicans (76%) say secular liberals have gone too far.

Christianity’s place in politics, and Christian nationalism

In recent years, “Christian nationalism” has received a great deal of attention as an ideology that some critics have said could threaten American democracy.

Despite growing news coverage of Christian nationalism – including reports of political leaders who seem to endorse the concept – the new survey shows that there has been no change in the share of Americans who have heard of Christian nationalism over the past year and a half. Similarly, the new survey finds no change in how favorably U.S. adults view Christian nationalism.

Overall, 45% say they have heard or read about Christian nationalism, including 25% who also have an unfavorable view of it and 5% who have a favorable view of it. Meanwhile, 54% of Americans say they haven’t heard of Christian nationalism at all.

One element often associated with Christian nationalism is the idea that church and state should not be separated, despite the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The survey finds that about half of Americans (49%) say the Bible should have “a great deal” of or “some” influence on U.S. laws, while another half (51%) say it should have “not much” or “no influence.” And 28% of U.S. adults say the Bible should have more influence than the will of the people if the two conflict. These numbers have remained virtually unchanged over the past four years.

In the new survey, 16% of U.S. adults say the government should stop enforcing the separation of church and state. This is little changed since 2021.

In response to a separate question, 13% of U.S. adults say the federal government should declare Christianity the official religion of the U.S., and 44% say the government should not declare the country a Christian nation but should promote Christian moral values. Meanwhile, 39% say the government should not elevate Christianity in either way.¹

Overall, 3% of U.S. adults say the Bible should have more influence on U.S. laws than the will of the people; and that the government should stop enforcing separation of church and state; and that Christianity should be declared the country’s official religion. And 13% of U.S. adults endorse two of these three statements. Roughly one-fifth of the public (22%) expresses one of these three views that are often associated with Christian nationalism. The majority (62%) expresses none.

Guide to this report

The remainder of this report describes these findings in additional detail. Chapter 1 focuses on the public’s perceptions of religion’s role in public life. Chapter 2 examines views of presidential candidates and their religious engagement. And Chapter 3 focuses on Christian nationalism and views of the U.S. as a Christian nation.

For our latest survey data about views of religion’s role in public life, read our 2026 report, “How Americans Feel About Religion’s Influence in Government and Public Life.”

The vast majority of U.S. adults agree that religion’s influence in public life is shrinking, and most of them see this as a bad thing. Americans generally express a positive view of religion in the new survey. There also is a growing sense that people’s own religious beliefs conflict with the society in which they live, and that religious disagreements are best not talked about.

• 48% say there is a “great deal” of conflict or “some” conflict between their own religious beliefs and mainstream American culture, up from 42% who said this in 2020.
• 29% say they think of themselves as part of a minority group because of their religious beliefs, up from 24% in 2020.
• 41% say that when they disagree with someone about religion, the best thing to do is to avoid discussing religion at all, up from 33% who said this in 2019.

Most Jewish Americans and religiously unaffiliated Americans think conservative Christians have gone too far in trying to impose their religious values on the government and public schools. Most Christians, by contrast, think secular liberals have gone too far in trying to keep religion out of the government and public schools.

All told, the survey results show that many Americans are discontented with religion’s trajectory in American life.

Is religion gaining or losing influence in American life?

Today, 80% of U.S. adults say religion is losing influence in American life. That is up 6 percentage points from 2022, and is as high as it’s been since we started asking questions like this in 2001.

Majorities in every religious group we analyzed agree that religion’s influence in public life is shrinking, as do most Republicans and Democrats, and most across age groups.

Just 18% of U.S. adults say religion is gaining influence.

Is religion’s changing trajectory a good thing or bad thing?

After asking respondents whether they think religion is gaining or losing influence in American life, we posed a follow-up question: Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Roughly half of respondents (49%) say religion is losing influence and that this is bad for society, while 8% say religion is gaining influence and this is good for society. Taken together, this means 57% express a positive view of religion’s impact – a larger share than we found in 2019 and 2022.²

Far fewer express a negative view of religion by saying either that its influence is shrinking and this is good (13%) or by saying its influence is growing and this is bad (6%). About one-in-five adults (21%) say that it doesn’t make much difference whether religion’s influence on American life is growing or shrinking.

Most Christians express a positive view of religion’s impact on American life, saying either that its influence is declining and this is bad (64%) or that its influence is growing and this is good (11%).

Most atheists and agnostics, by contrast, express a negative view of religion’s influence in American society. Jews and people who describe their religion as “nothing in particular” are divided between those who have a positive view of religion, those who have a negative view, and those who say changes in religion’s influence don’t make much of a difference.

Republicans and those who lean toward the Republican Party are far more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to express a positive view of religion by these measures. And older American adults are far more positive toward religion than younger Americans.

Do Americans feel at odds with society because of their religion?

Today, 29% of U.S. adults say they think of themselves as part of a minority group because of their religious beliefs. This figure is up modestly since 2020, when 24% said this.

Most Jewish Americans (83%) and many Muslim Americans (55%) say they think of themselves as a minority because of their religious beliefs, as do 44% of atheists.

But many Christians also say their religious beliefs make them a minority in the U.S., including 38% of Hispanic Protestants, 37% of White evangelical Protestants, and 25% each among Catholics and Black Protestants.

The new survey also finds that about half of U.S. adults (48%) say there is “a great deal” of or “some” conflict between their own religious beliefs and mainstream American culture, up from 42% who said this when the Center last asked in 2020.

Clear majorities among White evangelicals (71%), Jews (59%) and atheists (59%) hold this view. Smaller but still substantial numbers in other groups sense a conflict between their religious beliefs and the values of the prevailing culture.

Have some Americans gone too far trying to control religion in the government and schools?

Half of U.S. adults say they think secular liberals have gone too far in trying to keep religion out of the government and public schools. This view is especially common among White evangelical Protestants (83%). But most Catholics – particularly White Catholics – agree, as do 62% of Hispanic Protestants, 58% of White nonevangelical Protestants and 52% of Black Protestants.

Meanwhile, in response to a separate question, roughly half of U.S. adults say they think conservative Christians have gone too far in trying to push their religious values in the government and public schools. Fully 91% of atheists express this view, as do 85% of agnostics and 76% of Jewish Americans.

Three-quarters of Republicans and Republican leaners say liberals who are not religious have gone too far trying to remove religion from government and public schools. A similar share of Democrats and Democratic leaners say conservative Christians have gone too far in the other direction.

Older adults are more apt than younger Americans to say secular liberals have gone too far in trying to keep religion out of the government and schools. Younger adults, by contrast, are far more likely than older Americans to say conservative Christians have gone too far in trying to impose their religion in the government and public schools.

When these two questions are combined, the data shows that:

• 17% of U.S. adults think both sides – conservative Christians and secular liberals – have gone too far trying to control religion in the government and public schools.
• 31% think conservative Christians have gone too far, but secular liberals have not.
• 33% think secular liberals, but not conservative Christians, have gone too far.
• 19% don’t think either group has gone too far.

What do conservative Christians and secular liberals think about these questions?

The survey makes it possible to look at how conservative Christians and secular liberals themselves answer these questions. To do this, we combined information from two questions – one that asks respondents about their religious identity, and another that asks about their “political views” – to examine the views of conservative Christians and secular liberals.

Among respondents in this survey, 27% identify religiously as Christian and also describe themselves, politically, as conservative. These are “conservative Christians.”

Meanwhile, 12% of respondents identify as religiously unaffiliated, and also describe their political views as liberal. These are “secular liberals.” (Six-in-ten respondents don’t fall into either category; they are neither conservative Christians nor secular liberals.)

This analysis found that:

• 73% of conservative Christians say secular liberals have gone too far trying to keep religion out of the government and schools, and don’t say their own side has gone too far in the other direction.
• 88% of secular liberals say conservative Christians have gone too far trying to impose their religion in the government and schools, and don’t say their own side has gone too far in the other direction.

Among the majority of the public that doesn’t fall into either camp, opinions are much more divided: 32% say conservative Christians (but not secular liberals) have gone too far and 21% say secular liberals (but not conservative Christians) have gone too far. Meanwhile, 22% say both sides have gone too far, and 25% don’t say that either side has gone too far.

What should people do when they disagree about religion or politics?

Here’s what U.S. adults say when asked what they think is the best way to proceed when someone disagrees with them about religion:

• 41% say it’s best to just avoid discussing religion altogether, up from 33% who said this in 2019.
• 53% say it’s best to try and understand the other person’s perspective and agree to disagree, down from 62% who said this in 2019.
• Just 5% say the best approach is to try and persuade the other person to change their mind. This is virtually unchanged since 2019.

There is relatively little appetite for trying to change someone’s mind about religion among any of the religious groups analyzed in the survey, peaking at just 14% among White evangelical Protestants.

The survey finds a similar pattern in opinions about how to proceed in the face of political disagreements. Roughly half say it’s best to try to understand the other person’s political perspective and agree to disagree, and 45% say politics is best avoided in the face of disagreement. Just 5% say the best approach is to try to change the other person’s political view.

How friendly to religion are Democrats, Republicans, the Biden administration and the Supreme Court?

About half of U.S. adults say they think the GOP is “friendly” toward religion. This is 7 points lower than when we last asked this question in 2022, but higher than the share who say the Democratic Party is friendly toward religion.

The GOP is seen as friendly toward religion by 60% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, and by large numbers within Republican-majority religious groups, including 61% of White evangelical Protestants and 55% of White Catholics.

The GOP is also seen as friendly toward religion by many Democrats and Democratic leaners (47%), and by large numbers of people within some largely Democratic religious groups, including 80% of atheists, 68% of agnostics and 55% of Jews.

This feeling is decidedly not mutual. Most Republicans and Republican leaners say they think the Democratic Party is “unfriendly” toward religion. For their part, 53% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say the Democratic Party is “neutral” toward religion, while 37% say it is friendly toward religion and just 8% say it is unfriendly.

Views about the Biden administration’s approach to religion resemble views about the Democratic Party. Democrats and Democratic leaners mostly say the Biden administration is neutral or friendly toward religion, while Republicans and Republican leaners mostly say the Biden administration is unfriendly to religion.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision in June 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended federal protections for abortion, the share of Americans saying they viewed the Court as friendly to religion increased sharply – from 18% in spring 2019 to 35% in September 2022. In the new survey, the share saying the court is friendly to religion ticked down to 28%.

Most Republicans and Republican leaners say the Supreme Court is neutral toward religion. Democrats and Democratic leaners, by contrast, are more evenly split between those who say it is neutral and those who think the court is friendly toward religion.

Relatively few people in either party think the Supreme Court is unfriendly to religion.

Nearly all U.S. adults say it is important to have a president who lives a moral and ethical life, and almost half say it’s important for the president to have strong religious beliefs.

While fewer Americans want a president who shares their religion, most do want a president who stands up for people with their religious beliefs. We asked respondents their views about three candidates competing ahead of the 2024 presidential election: Democratic President Joe Biden, former Republican President Donald Trump and Republican challenger Nikki Haley.

(We asked these questions in February 2024 before Haley ended her candidacy. Go to the Topline for views about Haley.)

• 13% of U.S. adults say they think Biden is “very” religious, while 41% say he is “somewhat” religious and 44% say he is “not too” or “not at all” religious.
• 4% think Trump is “very” religious, while 25% describe him as “somewhat” religious and 68% say he is “not too” or “not at all” religious.
• Fewer than half of Americans say Biden or Trump stand up for people with their religious beliefs at least “some,” though responses on this question vary a lot by religious and political affiliations.
• Republicans and Democrats are highly polarized in their opinions of Biden and Trump, as well as how they evaluate these candidates’ religious engagement. These deep divides are often reflected in religious subgroups. For example, White evangelical Protestants view Trump more favorably than do people in other religious groups, while Black Protestants, Jews and atheists are more positive than many others about Biden.

How favorably do Americans view Biden and Trump?

More than half of Americans overall express unfavorable views of Biden (62%) and Trump (60%). This has been the case on all four surveys asking about these candidates since July 2022.

Majorities of Black Protestants (66%), Jews (62%) and atheists (59%) rate Biden favorably. White evangelical Protestants (14%) are less likely than the other religious groups in this analysis to express a positive view of the current president.

The opposite pattern plays out in views of Trump. White evangelical Protestants (67%) are the most likely to hold favorable views of Trump, while far fewer Black Protestants (17%) and Jews (21%) take this stance. And 25% of religiously unaffiliated adults, including just 12% of atheists, view Trump favorably.

Generally, Republicans (and Republican leaners) and Democrats (and Democratic leaners) express much more favorable views of the candidates that represent their own party.

How much do religion and morals matter in a president?

As we did ahead of the 2020 presidential election, we asked Americans what moral or religious qualities they seek in a president.

Once again, U.S. adults are far more likely to say they want a president who personally lives a moral and ethical life than to say the president should possess certain religious traits.

That said, many Americans still seek a president who engages with religion in various ways.

Almost all Americans (94%) say it is at least somewhat important to have a president who personally lives a moral and ethical life. There are no big differences on this question by religious affiliation, partisanship or age.

Fewer Americans – but still a majority (64%) – say it is at least somewhat important to have a president who stands up for people with their religious beliefs.

Close to half (48%) say it is at least somewhat important that the president has strong religious beliefs, even if these beliefs are different from their own. And 37% of U.S. adults say it is important to have a president with the same religious beliefs as their own.

White evangelical Protestants are among the most likely to say it is at least somewhat important to have a president who stands up for people with their religious beliefs (91%), has strong religious beliefs (73%), and has the same religious beliefs as their own (70%).

Black Protestants and Hispanic Protestants also generally value all of these religious attributes in a president more than other religiously affiliated Americans.

And while few Jewish Americans say it is important to have a president who shares their religious beliefs, the vast majority think it is at least somewhat important for the president to stand up for people with their religious beliefs (82%).

Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to prioritize the religious qualities we asked about. For example, Republicans are about twice as likely as Democrats to say it is important that the president has the same religious beliefs as their own (51% vs. 25%).

Older U.S. adults are also generally more likely than younger Americans to value religious engagement by the president. For example, U.S. adults ages 65 and older are about twice as likely as those ages 18 to 29 to say it is important to have a president with strong religious beliefs (63% vs. 31%).

How religious are Biden and Trump?

Roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) say Trump is “not too” or “not at all” religious. Just three-in-ten say Trump is “very” (4%) or “somewhat” (25%) religious.

By contrast, a slight majority of Americans view Biden as either very (13%) or somewhat (41%) religious. This is 10 percentage points lower than when we last asked this question in March 2021, but still higher than the share who say the same about Trump.

Compared with most other religious groups, Black Protestants are especially likely to view Biden as at least somewhat religious. By contrast, 70% of White evangelical Protestants say Biden is not too or not at all religious; a similar share of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the same (69%).

White evangelical Protestants and Republicans are more likely than other U.S. adults to view Trump as at least somewhat religious. Still, about half of White evangelicals (49%) and Republicans (48%) say Trump is not too or not at all religious.

How much do Americans think candidates stand up for people with their religious beliefs?

While nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) say it is at least somewhat important to have a president who stands up for people with their religious beliefs, just 40% say Biden does this “a great deal,” “quite a bit” or “some.” A similar share (38%) says this about Trump.

Jews (73%) and Black Protestants (60%) – two predominantly Democratic constituencies – are more likely than other groups in this analysis to say that Biden stands up for people with their religious beliefs at least “some.”

Only about a quarter of White evangelical Protestants (24%) say Biden stands up for people with their beliefs at least some.

Conversely, White evangelical Protestants are much more likely than other groups to say Trump stands up for people with their religious beliefs: 49% say Trump does this a great deal or quite a bit, while 20% say Trump does this some.

Muslims, Black Protestants, Jews and religiously unaffiliated Americans are more likely to take the opposite view of the former president. Majorities in these groups say Trump stands up for people with their beliefs “a little” or “not at all.”

Few Republicans say Biden stands up for people with their religious beliefs quite a bit or a great deal. And few Democrats say Trump stands up for people with their religious beliefs.

For our latest survey data about views of religion’s role in public life, read our 2026 report, “How Americans Feel About Religion’s Influence in Government and Public Life.”

Most Americans express support for the principle of separation of church and state. And few say they think the federal government should declare Christianity to be the official religion of the United States.

But many Americans do think that even though the U.S. shouldn’t officially be declared a Christian country, the federal government should promote Christian moral values. And half of U.S. adults say they think the Bible should have at least some influence in U.S. laws, including 28% who say that if the Bible conflicts with the will of the people, the Bible should have more sway.

Fewer than half of U.S. adults say they have ever heard or read anything about Christian nationalism, including 5% who say they have a favorable view of it and 25% who say they have an unfavorable view.

How much influence should the Bible have on U.S. laws?

U.S. adults are divided over the amount of influence the Bible should have on the country’s laws. About half of adults (49%) say the Bible should have “a great deal” (23%) or “some” influence (26%), while 51% say it should have “not much” or “none at all.”

This is the third time we’ve asked this question in the last four years, and responses have remained fairly steady over that time.

White evangelical Protestants are more likely than adults in most other groups to say the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws (86%) – including 55% who say the Bible should have “a great deal” of influence. A majority of Hispanic Protestants (78%) and Black Protestants (74%) also think the Bible should hold at least some influence on the country’s laws.

By contrast, 80% of religiously unaffiliated adults, 79% of Jews and 57% of Muslims say the Bible should not have influence on the laws of the United States. This includes 84% of atheists and 78% of agnostics who say the Bible should have no influence at all.

There also are large political divides on this topic. While 67% of Republicans and Republican leaners say the Bible should influence U.S. laws at least some, only 32% of Democrats and Democratic leaners share this opinion.

Younger adults and college graduates are less likely than other adults to say that the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws.

What should happen when the Bible and the will of the people conflict?

Respondents who said the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws were asked a follow-up question: When the Bible and the will of the people conflict with each other, which should have more influence?

Overall, 28% of U.S. adults say the Bible should have influence over U.S. laws and that it should take priority over the will of the people if the two conflict, while 19% say the Bible should have influence but that the will of the people should take precedence.

White evangelical Protestants and Hispanic Protestants are more likely than those in other religious groups to say the Bible should carry more weight in U.S. laws than the will of the people – 64% and 61%, respectively, say the Bible should have more influence on laws when the Bible and the will of the people conflict. And 49% of Black Protestants voice this opinion.

Among Catholics, 24% say the Bible should have more influence than the will of the people if the two conflict, 23% say the will of the people should take precedence over the Bible, and 50% say the Bible should have little or no influence on U.S. laws.

Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to say the Bible should have more influence than the will of the people when the two conflict (42% vs. 16%).

How much influence does the Bible have on U.S. laws today?

Distinct from their preferences on how much influence the Bible should have on U.S. laws, a majority of adults (57%) say they think the Bible currently does have at least some influence on this country’s laws.

Atheists (86%) and agnostics (83%) are far more likely than people in other religious groups to say the Bible has influence on U.S. laws.

And 73% of Jewish respondents say the Bible has a great deal of or some influence over today’s laws.

Black Protestants are the only group in which a clear majority says the Bible does not currently have much influence on the country’s laws.

Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to think the Bible has at least some influence on today’s laws (67% vs. 48%).

Should the government stop enforcing church-state separation?

Just over half of Americans say the federal government should enforce the separation of church and state (55%) – virtually unchanged from when we asked this question three years ago.

Meanwhile, 16% of U.S. adults say the government should stop enforcing church-state separation. And 28% of Americans say they have no opinion on this question or that neither option represents their views.

Almost all atheists (95%) say church-state separation should continue to be enforced by the federal government. Agnostics (89%) and Jews (84%) also are widely in favor of continued enforcement.

On the other hand, White evangelical Protestants are almost equally divided on this question: 35% say they favor federal enforcement of church-state separation, 31% say the government should stop enforcing this separation, and 32% choose neither of these options.

White evangelical Protestants are more likely than any of the other religious groups in this analysis to say the government should stop enforcing church-state separation.

Republicans are about twice as likely as Democrats to say the federal government should stop enforcing church-state separation (23% vs. 10%). But Republicans express more support for separation of church and state than opposition to it (43% vs. 23%).

Meanwhile, a clear majority of Democrats support the government enforcing the separation of church and state (68%).

Americans with a college degree are significantly more likely than other adults to say the federal government should enforce the separation of church and state.

Should the federal government declare Christianity the country’s official religion?

Survey respondents were asked to pick which of three statements best aligns with their views:

• The federal government should declare Christianity the official religion of the United States.
• The federal government should not declare Christianity the official religion of the United States, but it should promote Christian moral values.
• The federal government should not declare Christianity the official religion of the United States, and it should not promote Christian moral values.

An overwhelming majority of Americans – 83% – say the government should not declare Christianity the official religion of the country. Only 13% of Americans support declaring Christianity as the national religion.  (In our 2021 survey, a different question found a similar result on this topic.)

Another 44% of U.S. adults say the government should not declare the U.S. a Christian nation but should promote Christian values.

The remaining 39% do not want the government to promote Christian values or to declare a Christian nation.

A slim majority of Christians say they want the government to promote Christian values without declaring an official religion. In other religious groups, respondents most commonly say the government should neither declare a Christian nation nor promote Christian values. Atheists (90%) are particularly likely to fall in this camp.

While relatively few people say the federal government should declare Christianity the official religion of the U.S., this view is somewhat more common among White evangelical Protestants, Black Protestants and Hispanic Protestants. About a quarter in each group expresses this opinion.

Most Republicans (57%) say the federal government should promote Christian moral values but not declare the U.S. a Christian nation, while most Democrats (58%) say the government should not promote Christian values or declare the U.S a Christian nation.

Republicans also are more likely than Democrats to say Christianity should be declared the official national religion (21% vs. 7%).

Young adults are more likely than older adults to say that the government should neither declare Christianity the country’s official religion nor promote Christian moral values.

Do Americans know about ‘Christian nationalism’?

A slim majority of U.S. adults (54%) say they have heard or read “nothing at all” about “Christian nationalism” – the same share who said this when we asked this question two years ago.

Among the 45% who have heard anything about Christian nationalism, relatively few say they’ve heard “a great deal” (6%) or “quite a bit” (9%). More Americans say they’ve heard or read “some” (16%) or “a little” (14%) about Christian nationalism.

Most atheists, agnostics and Jews have heard at least a little about Christian nationalism. By contrast, 60% of Christians say they have heard or read nothing at all about it.

Views of Christian nationalism

Respondents who had heard or read anything about Christian nationalism were then asked a follow-up question: All in all, do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of Christian nationalism?

Overall, 25% of U.S. adults say they have heard of Christian nationalism and have an unfavorable view of it. Far fewer adults say they have a favorable view of Christian nationalism (5%).

There are no religious groups in which more people have a favorable than unfavorable view of Christian nationalism.

And some religious groups are particularly likely to hold an unfavorable view. For instance, 49% of Jewish respondents have an unfavorable view of Christian nationalism, while 1% say they have a favorable view.

Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to have heard about Christian nationalism and to have an unfavorable view of it. Most Republicans say they have never heard of Christian nationalism.

Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals. Find related reports online at pewresearch.org/religion.

Primary Researcher

Michael Rotolo, Research Associate            

Research Team             

Gregory A. Smith, Associate Director, Religion Research
Jonathan Evans, Senior Researcher
Alan Cooperman, Director, Religion Research
Becka A. Alper, Senior Researcher
Besheer Mohamed, Senior Researcher            
Patricia Tevington, Research Associate
Justin Nortey, Research Analyst      
Asta Kallo, Research Assistant

Methods Team         

Courtney Kennedy, Vice President, Methods and Innovation
Andrew Mercer, Senior Research Methodologist
Scott Keeter, Senior Survey Advisor
Dorene Asare-Marfo, Panel Manager          
Dana Popky, Associate Panel Manager
Anna Brown, Research Methodologist
Arnold Lau, Research Methodologist                       

Editorial and Graphic Design

Dalia Fahmy, Senior Writer/Editor
Rebecca Leppert, Copy Editor
Bill Webster, Senior Information Graphics Designer

Communications and Web Publishing

Achsah Callahan, Communications Manager
Reem Nadeem, Digital Producer    
Anna Schiller, Associate Director, Communications
Shannon Greenwood, Digital Production Manager

In addition, Pew Research Center is grateful for many others who provided valuable advice and assistance on this project, including Laura Silver, Carroll Doherty, Jocelyn Kiley, Manolo Corichi, Jordan Lippert and Kirsten Lesage.

The American Trends Panel survey methodology

Overview

The American Trends Panel (ATP), created by Pew Research Center, is a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. Panelists participate via self-administered web surveys. Panelists who do not have internet access at home are provided with a tablet and wireless internet connection. Interviews are conducted in both English and Spanish. The panel is being managed by Ipsos.

Data in this report is drawn from ATP Wave 143, conducted from Feb. 13 to 25, 2024. A total of 12,693 panelists responded out of 14,762 who were sampled, for a response rate of 89% (AAPOR RR3). The survey includes an oversample of 2,051 Jewish and Muslim Americans from Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, SSRS’s Opinion Panel, and NORC at the University of Chicago’s AmeriSpeak Panel. These oversampled groups are weighted to reflect their correct proportions in the population. The cumulative response rate accounting for nonresponse to the recruitment surveys and attrition is 4%. The break-off rate among panelists who logged on to the survey and completed at least one item is less than 1%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 12,693 respondents is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

ATP Panel recruitment

The ATP was created in 2014, with the first cohort of panelists invited to join the panel at the end of a large, national, landline and cellphone random-digit-dial survey that was conducted in both English and Spanish. Two additional recruitments were conducted using the same method in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Across these three surveys, a total of 19,718 adults were invited to join the ATP, of whom 9,942 (50%) agreed to participate.

In August 2018, the ATP switched from telephone to address-based sampling (ABS) recruitment. A study cover letter and a pre-incentive are mailed to a stratified, random sample of households selected from the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File. This Postal Service file has been estimated to cover as much as 98% of the population, although some studies suggest that the coverage could be in the low 90% range.³ Within each sampled household, the adult with the next birthday is asked to participate. Other details of the ABS recruitment protocol have changed over time but are available upon request.⁴

We have recruited a national sample of U.S. adults to the ATP approximately once per year since 2014. In some years, the recruitment has included additional efforts (known as an “oversample”) to boost sample size with underrepresented groups. For example, Hispanic, Black and Asian adults were oversampled in 2019, 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Across the six address-based recruitments, a total of 23,862 adults were invited to join the ATP, of whom 20,917 agreed to join the panel and completed an initial profile survey. Of the 30,859 individuals who have ever joined the ATP, 11,920 remained active panelists and continued to receive survey invitations at the time this survey was conducted.

The American Trends Panel never uses breakout routers or chains that direct respondents to additional surveys.

Sample design

The overall target population for this survey was noninstitutionalized persons ages 18 and older living in the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii. All active panel members who completed the ATP wave which fielded from July 31 to Aug. 6, 2023 (ATP W132), or panelists who previously identified as Jewish or Muslim, were invited to participate in this wave.

The ATP was supplemented with an oversample of self-identified Jewish and Muslim American panelists from three other probability panels: Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, SSRS’s Opinion Panel, and NORC at the University of Chicago’s AmeriSpeak Panel. All panelists who met the selection criteria were selected with certainty.

Questionnaire development and testing

The questionnaire was developed by Pew Research Center in consultation with Ipsos, SSRS and NORC. The survey for ATP and KP panelists was programmed by Ipsos, while the survey for SSRS and NORC panelists was programmed by SSRS. A small number of SSRS panelists took their survey over the phone with an interviewer. Both web programs were rigorously tested on both PC and mobile devices by the Ipsos, SSRS and NORC project management teams and Pew Research Center researchers. The Ipsos project management team also populated test data that was analyzed in SPSS to ensure the logic and randomizations were working as intended before launching the survey.

Incentives

All ATP respondents were offered a post-paid incentive for their participation. Respondents could choose to receive the post-paid incentive in the form of a check or a gift code to Amazon.com or could choose to decline the incentive. Incentive amounts ranged from $5 to $20 depending on whether the respondent belongs to a part of the population that is harder or easier to reach. Differential incentive amounts were designed to increase panel survey participation among groups that traditionally have low survey response propensities.

Respondents from the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, SSRS Opinion Panel and AmeriSpeak were offered the cash equivalent of $10 for completing this survey.

Data collection protocol

The data collection field period for this survey was Feb. 13 to 25, 2024. Postcard notifications were mailed to a subset of ATP panelists with a known residential address on Feb. 12.⁵

Invitations were sent out in separate launches. Sixty ATP panelists and 300 KP panelists were included in the soft launch, which began with an initial invitation sent on Feb. 13. The ATP and KP panelists chosen for the soft launch were known responders who had completed previous surveys within one day of receiving their invitation. All remaining ATP and KP sampled panelists were included in the full launch and were sent an invitation on Feb. 14.

Overall, 129 SSRS panelists were included in the SSRS soft launch, which began with an initial invitation on Feb. 14. And 110 NORC panelists were included in the NORC soft launch, which began with an initial invitation on Feb. 15. All remaining SSRS and NORC sampled panelists were included together in the full launch and were sent an invitation on Feb. 15. 

All panelists with an email address received an email invitation and up to four email reminders if they did not respond to the survey. All ATP panelists who consented to SMS messages received an SMS invitation and up to four SMS reminders.

Data quality checks

To ensure high-quality data, the Center’s researchers performed data quality checks to identify any respondents showing clear patterns of satisficing. This includes checking for whether respondents left questions blank at very high rates or always selected the first or last answer presented. As a result of this checking, six ATP respondents were removed from the survey dataset prior to weighting and analysis.

Weighting

The data was weighted in a multistep process that accounts for multiple stages of sampling and nonresponse that occur at different points in the survey process. First, each panelist begins with a base weight that reflects their probability of inclusion in the panel to which they belong. Separately for each of the four panels (ATP, KP, SSRS, NORC), the base weights for Muslim and Jewish respondents were scaled to be proportional to the group’s effective sample size. These weights were then combined and calibrated so that the overall proportions of Jewish and Muslim respondents respectively match the National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) benchmark.

This weight is then calibrated again to align with the full set of population benchmarks identified in the accompanying table (which also includes the NPORS benchmarks for the shares of Jewish and Muslim adults). In order to reduce the loss in precision stemming from variance in the weights, the weights were trimmed separately among Jewish, Muslim, Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic Asian respondents at the 98th percentile, and among all other respondents at the 99.5th percentile. Sampling errors and tests of statistical significance take into account the effect of weighting.

The following table shows the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey.

Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request. In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

Dispositions and response rates

© Pew Research Center, 2024