NewsWire: 7/8/22
- The share of Americans who believe in God has fallen to a new low. While this share is still high (81%), it’s down nearly 10 points compared to a decade ago. (Gallup)
- NH: For over 70 years, Gallup has asked Americans if they believe in God. And according to its latest poll, 81% of US adults believe in a higher power. That’s down from 98% in 1953 and 87% in 2017.
- Every demographic group has experienced a decline from the 2013-2017 average. But the decline is steeper among some groups than others. It is steeper among women (-7 pp) than men (-3pp); among the unmarried (-8pp) than married (-1pp); among those aged 18-29 (-10 pp) than those aged 65+ (-3 pp); and among Democrats (-12 pp) than Republicans (-3 pp).
- These results are what you would expect. The groups with the largest declines are also the least likely to believe in God. And they report the largest declines in church membership. (See “Is America Losing Its Religion?”)
- But there was one surprising finding: Rural Americans reported a larger decline in belief than urban dwellers (-7pp vs. -4pp). Why? It may be due to people leaving cities for small-town America during the pandemic. These movers undoubtedly brought their more secular attitudes with them. (See "73% of US Counties Experienced Natural Decrease in 2021.")
- We have written several NewsWires on why Americans' belief in God has been declining. (See “Rise of the Religious 'Nones'” and “Nones Rising.”) One driver may be a later marriage age. Young people are marrying and having children later in life, and marriage and starting families are known triggers of greater religiosity. Another driver may be that the stigma of saying you don't believe in God is eroding. Perhaps a greater share of people who never believed, now feel more comfortable admitting as much.
- This last "social acceptability" bias may explain the larger drop among Democrats, among whom the stigma may have reversed direction. Among their peers, in other words, many Democrats may feel pressure to say they don't believe in God even if they do.
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