Is religious influence increasing in the US? What Americans said in survey
More Americans said they think the influence of religion is increasing in U.S. society compared to the previous year, a new poll found.
Thirty-four percent of U.S. adults said they think religious influence is growing, up 14 percentage points from last year, according to a June 11 Gallup poll.
However, a majority of respondents, 59%, still said religion is losing its influence in the country, according to the poll.
“The recent shifts represent a departure from the trend over the past 15 years that has generally seen larger percentages of Americans saying religious influence is decreasing rather than increasing,” researchers said.
The survey of 1,003 U.S. adults was taken between May 1-18 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Exact reasons behind the shift in opinions are unclear, but it could be “a reaction to the Republican sweep of the federal government in last fall’s election,” researchers said.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to bring religion back to the country.
In February, when Trump announced a new task force to investigate “anti-Christian bias,” he urged Americans to “bring religion back,” the Associated Press reported.
During the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 21, he said: “We’re bringing religion back in America. We’re bringing a lot of things back, but religion is coming back to America.”
Researchers said a similar shift was recorded in 1994 when Republicans took over Congress for the first time in four decades, but there were no “meaningful changes” after GOP victories in the 2000, 2010 and 2016 elections.
Other notable shifts
The highest recorded spike in Americans who said they think religious influence is increasing happened following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, when the number jumped 32 percentage points to 71%, according to the poll.
More recently, researchers saw a surge during the COVID-19 pandemic, when 38% of Americans said they saw more religious influence in society, up from 19% pre-pandemic, the poll found.
Which groups think religion in America is increasing?
More Democrats, 41%, said they think “religion as a whole is increasing its influence on American life,” compared with 35% of Republicans and 31% of Independents who said the same thing, according to the poll.
Individuals associated with no religion said they think religion is growing at slightly higher rates than Protestants and Catholics, 36% compared to 33% and 35%, respectively, the poll found.
Younger adults, those between 18 and 29 years old, also said they believe religious influence is increasing at higher rates than the rest of Americans, according to the poll.
