{"id":198645,"date":"2025-02-26T06:09:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T11:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=198645"},"modified":"2026-06-10T09:03:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T13:03:51","slug":"religion-partisanship-and-ideology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2025\/02\/26\/religion-partisanship-and-ideology\/","title":{"rendered":"15. Religion, partisanship and ideology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The religious profiles of U.S. adults \u2013 how religious they are and what religion they identify with \u2013 are closely aligned with their partisan political identities, according to the new Religious Landscape Study (RLS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Generally speaking, Americans who are highly religious are the most solidly Republican constituency. U.S. adults with lower levels of religious engagement more commonly identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party.[66. numoffset=”66″ We measured religiousness using a scale based on four questions: prayer frequency, belief in God and\/or a universal spirit, religion\u2019s importance and religious service attendance. Each question was coded from 0 (low) to 2 (high). Prayer frequency is coded as 0 for those who seldom or never pray, 2 for those who pray daily, and 1 for everyone else. Belief in God and\/or a universal spirit is coded as 0 for those who do not believe in God or a universal spirit, 2 for those who believe with absolute certainty, and 1 for everyone else. Religion\u2019s importance is coded as 0 for those who say religion is \u201cnot too important\u201d or \u201cnot at all important\u201d in their lives, 2 for those who say religion is \u201cvery important\u201d in their lives, and 1 for everyone else. Religious attendance is coded as 0 for those who say they seldom or never attend religious services, 2 for those who attend religious services at least once a month, and 1 for everyone else. These indicators were added together to form a scale ranging from 0 to 8, and then subdivided roughly into quartiles (scores of 0 to 1 in the lowest quartile, scores of 2 to 4 in the medium-low quartile, scores of 5 to 6 in the medium-high quartile, and scores of 7 to 8 in the highest quartile).]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Black Americans are a notable exception: At all levels of religiousness, most identify as Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White Americans are far more divided than other racial groups by level of religiousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among highly religious White Americans, a solid majority identify with the Republican Party or lean Republican (77%). Among White Americans with low levels of religious engagement, a sizable majority identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party (68%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and Americans of other races and ethnicities also are somewhat politically divided by their levels of religiousness, but the gaps are not as wide as among White Americans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, 48% of highly religious Hispanic Americans identify as Republican or Republican-leaning and 40% identify as Democratic or Democratic-leaning. (The rest say they do not lean toward either party.) Among Hispanic Americans with low levels of religious engagement, a clear 68% majority lean toward the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Black Americans largely support the Democratic Party regardless of their level of religiousness, with about three-quarters in both the high and low religiousness categories siding with the Democratic Party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(Results about partisanship and ideology from this new survey cannot be compared with the previous 2007 and 2014 Religious Landscape Studies due to differences in the way the surveys were conducted.[67. Both the 2007 and 2014 Religious Landscape Studies were conducted by telephone, while the 2023-24 survey was conducted mainly online and on paper. More details about this change in survey modes and its implications for understanding the survey\u2019s findings are available in Appendix A<\/a>.])<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to learn about the political and ideological views of specific religious groups.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political orientation and political ideology by religious affiliation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. public is very evenly divided politically: In the 2023-24 RLS, 46% of Americans identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, and 46% identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The remaining 8% of U.S. adults consider themselves independents or \u201csomething else,\u201d or did not answer the question and don\u2019t lean toward either party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Read our recent analysis of trends in party identification over time<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some religious groups strongly favor one party over the other:<\/p>\n\n\n\n