Portraits of American Life Study, 1st Wave, 2006

• Summary
• Codebook
• Search
• Download
• Results

RM_1 (Weighted by PAWT2) How important is religion or religious faith to you personally?   -7) Refused   -4) Don't know   1) Not at all important   2) Somewhat important   3) Very important   4) Extremely important   5) By far the most important part of your life

Pie Chart Bar Chart Cumulative Bar Chart

Category	Frequency	Percentage	Cumulative Percentage
Refused	1	0%	0%
Don't know	7	.3%	.3%
Not at all important	278	10.7%	11%
Somewhat important	700	26.8%	37.8%
Very important	766	29.4%	67.2%
Extremely important	455	17.4%	84.6%
By far the most important part of your life	401	15.4%	100%
Missing	2	%	%

Variable Comparisons

Age Gender Political ideology Race Religion Region Education

Age (I-AGE)

	18 to 29 years old	30 to 44 years old	45 to 59 years old	60 to 74 years old	75 years and older	TOTAL
Refused	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.1% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 1
Don't know	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.4% 3	0.0% 0	2.1% 3	0.2% 6
Not at all important	14.1% 78	12.0% 90	9.3% 70	7.1% 29	7.7% 11	10.7% 278
Somewhat important	33.7% 187	31.9% 238	23.5% 177	21.2% 87	7.7% 11	26.9% 700
Very important	24.7% 137	26.9% 201	28.2% 212	35.6% 146	49.3% 70	29.4% 766
Extremely important	15.5% 86	15.4% 115	18.3% 138	21.0% 86	21.1% 30	17.5% 455
By far the most important part of your life	12.1% 67	13.8% 103	20.2% 152	15.1% 62	12.0% 17	15.4% 401
Missing	0	0	0	2	0	2
TOTAL	100.0% 555	100.0% 747	100.0% 753	100.0% 410	100.0% 142	2607

Gender (I-GENDER)

	Female	Male	TOTAL
Refused	0.1% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 1
Don't know	0.1% 2	0.4% 5	0.3% 7
Not at all important	6.7% 90	14.9% 188	10.7% 278
Somewhat important	23.9% 322	29.9% 377	26.8% 699
Very important	31.5% 424	27.1% 341	29.3% 765
Extremely important	19.5% 263	15.3% 193	17.5% 456
By far the most important part of your life	18.2% 246	12.3% 155	15.4% 401
Missing	2	0	2
TOTAL	100.0% 1348	100.0% 1259	2607

Political ideology (I-POLITICS)

	Very liberal	Somewhat liberal	Middle of the road	Somewhat conservative	Very conservative	Haven't thought much about it	Missing	TOTAL
Refused	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.2% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0	0.0% 1
Don't know	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.3% 2	0.0% 0	1.3% 3	0.1% 1	1	0.2% 6
Not at all important	33.7% 57	12.7% 48	11.2% 71	6.2% 31	5.8% 13	8.6% 58	0	10.8% 278
Somewhat important	29.6% 50	36.1% 137	30.2% 191	19.0% 96	12.1% 27	28.8% 195	3	26.9% 696
Very important	20.7% 35	27.4% 104	33.1% 209	31.3% 158	18.3% 41	31.2% 211	8	29.3% 758
Extremely important	10.1% 17	16.6% 63	15.0% 95	22.8% 115	26.3% 59	15.1% 102	4	17.5% 451
By far the most important part of your life	5.9% 10	7.1% 27	10.0% 63	20.6% 104	36.2% 81	16.1% 109	7	15.2% 394
TOTAL	100.0% 169	100.0% 379	100.0% 632	100.0% 504	100.0% 224	100.0% 676	23	2584

Race (I-RACE)

	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	Pacific Islander	Other	TOTAL
Refused	0.1% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 1
Don't know	0.1% 2	0.4% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	3.6% 3	0.2% 6
Not at all important	12.4% 224	6.9% 19	5.3% 17	7.3% 8	0.0% 0	12.0% 10	10.7% 278
Somewhat important	28.7% 518	14.8% 41	22.7% 73	39.4% 43	11.1% 1	27.7% 23	26.8% 699
Very important	26.6% 480	33.2% 92	44.2% 142	23.9% 26	44.4% 4	26.5% 22	29.4% 766
Extremely important	17.3% 313	22.7% 63	14.6% 47	15.6% 17	44.4% 4	13.3% 11	17.5% 455
By far the most important part of your life	14.9% 269	22.0% 61	13.1% 42	13.8% 15	0.0% 0	16.9% 14	15.4% 401
Missing	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
TOTAL	100.0% 1807	100.0% 277	100.0% 321	100.0% 109	100.0% 9	100.0% 83	2606

Religion (I-RELIGION)

	Black Protestant	Evangelical Protestant	Mainline Protestant	Catholic	Unaffiliated	Other	TOTAL
Refused	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.2% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 1
Don't know	0.7% 1	0.1% 1	0.0% 0	0.3% 2	0.7% 3	0.3% 1	0.3% 8
Not at all important	3.4% 5	1.7% 12	4.7% 17	5.5% 38	42.0% 172	11.3% 34	10.7% 278
Somewhat important	11.6% 17	19.5% 135	29.5% 107	27.3% 189	35.1% 144	35.4% 107	26.8% 699
Very important	39.5% 58	29.1% 202	30.6% 111	37.2% 258	15.4% 63	24.2% 73	29.3% 765
Extremely important	24.5% 36	21.1% 146	22.6% 82	19.9% 138	4.6% 19	11.6% 35	17.5% 456
By far the most important part of your life	20.4% 30	28.4% 197	12.7% 46	9.8% 68	2.0% 8	17.2% 52	15.4% 401
Missing	0	1	0	0	0	2	3
TOTAL	100.0% 147	100.0% 693	100.0% 363	100.0% 693	100.0% 410	100.0% 302	2608

Region (I-REGION)

	Northeast	Midwest	South	West	TOTAL
Refused	0.0% 0	0.2% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 1
Don't know	0.0% 0	0.3% 2	0.2% 2	0.4% 3	0.3% 7
Not at all important	13.9% 61	4.5% 28	8.6% 76	16.9% 113	10.7% 278
Somewhat important	25.5% 112	32.6% 202	24.1% 212	25.9% 173	26.8% 699
Very important	34.3% 151	29.4% 182	27.1% 238	29.1% 194	29.4% 765
Extremely important	14.3% 63	19.5% 121	19.6% 172	14.8% 99	17.5% 455
By far the most important part of your life	12.0% 53	13.5% 84	20.4% 179	12.7% 85	15.4% 401
Missing	0	0	1	2	3
TOTAL	100.0% 440	100.0% 620	100.0% 879	100.0% 667	2606

Education (I-EDUC)

	No high school diploma	GED or high school diploma	Vocational/technical diploma or Associate's degree	Bachelor's degree	Graduate degree	Other	Missing	TOTAL
Refused	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.2% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0	0.0% 1
Don't know	0.3% 1	0.1% 1	0.4% 2	0.0% 0	1.1% 3	0.0% 0	0	0.3% 7
Not at all important	6.8% 21	9.9% 105	9.4% 45	13.1% 55	16.0% 43	8.5% 6	3	10.6% 275
Somewhat important	23.1% 71	27.9% 295	25.8% 124	29.0% 122	26.5% 71	23.9% 17	0	26.9% 700
Very important	43.0% 132	30.4% 321	30.0% 144	19.3% 81	22.4% 60	38.0% 27	2	29.4% 765
Extremely important	12.1% 37	16.6% 175	19.0% 91	20.0% 84	21.6% 58	11.3% 8	2	17.4% 453
By far the most important part of your life	14.7% 45	15.1% 159	15.2% 73	18.6% 78	12.3% 33	18.3% 13	0	15.4% 401
TOTAL	100.0% 307	100.0% 1056	100.0% 480	100.0% 420	100.0% 268	100.0% 71	7	2602