Opinion of Atheists

• Introduction
• Patterns

Opinion of Atheists (Demographic Patterns)

Thinking about specific religious groups, what is your overall opinion of: atheists, that is, people who don't believe in God?

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Opinion of Atheists by Gender (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Male	Female	TOTAL
Very favorable	4.8% 24	4.5% 25	4.6% 49
Mostly favorable	33.4% 166	26.4% 148	29.7% 314
Mostly unfavorable	24.9% 124	21.4% 120	23.1% 244
Very unfavorable	25.2% 125	35.7% 200	30.7% 325
Never heard of	0.2% 1	0.0% 0	0.1% 1
Can't rate	9.3% 46	10.7% 60	10.0% 106
Refused	2.2% 11	1.4% 8	1.8% 19
Missing	425	519	944
TOTAL	100% 497	100% 561	1058

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Opinion of Atheists by Political party (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Republican	Democrat	No pref	Oth party	DK/Refused	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	2.5% 9	4.1% 13	5.3% 3	0.0% 0	3.4% 1	23	3.4% 26
Mostly favorable	24.4% 88	30.3% 95	19.3% 11	33.3% 1	31.0% 9	110	26.7% 204
Mostly unfavorable	26.4% 95	23.9% 75	15.8% 9	0.0% 0	20.7% 6	59	24.2% 185
Very unfavorable	34.7% 125	33.8% 106	38.6% 22	0.0% 0	20.7% 6	66	33.9% 259
Never heard of	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	1	0.0% 0
Can't rate	10.3% 37	6.4% 20	19.3% 11	0.0% 0	13.8% 4	34	9.4% 72
Refused	1.7% 6	1.6% 5	1.8% 1	66.7% 2	10.3% 3	2	2.2% 17
Missing	293	280	64	1	25	281	944
TOTAL	100% 360	100% 314	100% 57	100% 3	100% 29	576	763

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Opinion of Atheists by Family income (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	<20,000	20-30,000	30-50,000	50-75,000	75,000+	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	2.8% 4	5.9% 8	3.8% 9	9.4% 16	3.7% 8	4	5.0% 45
Mostly favorable	24.8% 36	20.6% 28	29.5% 69	33.5% 57	40.7% 87	37	30.8% 277
Mostly unfavorable	20.0% 29	27.2% 37	20.5% 48	18.8% 32	28.0% 60	38	22.9% 206
Very unfavorable	42.8% 62	35.3% 48	34.2% 80	28.8% 49	16.8% 36	50	30.6% 275
Never heard of	0.0% 0	0.7% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0	0.1% 1
Can't rate	9.0% 13	8.8% 12	10.7% 25	8.2% 14	9.8% 21	21	9.5% 85
Refused	0.7% 1	1.5% 2	1.3% 3	1.2% 2	0.9% 2	9	1.1% 10
Missing	167	99	207	147	181	143	944
TOTAL	100% 145	100% 136	100% 234	100% 170	100% 214	302	899

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Opinion of Atheists by Education (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Less than high school	High school graduate	Some college	College +	Refused	TOTAL
Very favorable	3.3% 3	3.5% 12	4.4% 13	6.5% 21	0.0% 0	4.6% 49
Mostly favorable	18.9% 17	20.3% 70	34.1% 101	38.9% 126	0.0% 0	29.7% 314
Mostly unfavorable	17.8% 16	25.9% 89	21.6% 64	22.5% 73	50.0% 2	23.1% 244
Very unfavorable	47.8% 43	40.7% 140	30.1% 89	15.7% 51	50.0% 2	30.7% 325
Never heard of	1.1% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.1% 1
Can't rate	8.9% 8	8.1% 28	7.8% 23	14.5% 47	0.0% 0	10.0% 106
Refused	2.2% 2	1.5% 5	2.0% 6	1.9% 6	0.0% 0	1.8% 19
Missing	93	302	229	316	4	944
TOTAL	100% 90	100% 344	100% 296	100% 324	100% 4	1058

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Opinion of Atheists by Marital status (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Married	Divorced	Separated	Widowed	Never been married	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	4.7% 26	3.8% 6	0.0% 0	2.3% 2	6.6% 15	0	4.7% 49
Mostly favorable	28.5% 159	27.0% 43	26.1% 6	15.1% 13	40.1% 91	2	29.7% 312
Mostly unfavorable	22.3% 124	25.8% 41	39.1% 9	20.9% 18	22.5% 51	1	23.1% 243
Very unfavorable	32.3% 180	27.7% 44	30.4% 7	48.8% 42	22.0% 50	2	30.7% 323
Never heard of	0.2% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0	0.1% 1
Can't rate	9.9% 55	15.1% 24	0.0% 0	11.6% 10	7.0% 16	1	10.0% 105
Refused	2.2% 12	0.6% 1	4.3% 1	1.2% 1	1.8% 4	0	1.8% 19
Missing	495	118	26	92	207	6	944
TOTAL	100% 557	100% 159	100% 23	100% 86	100% 227	12	1052

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Opinion of Atheists by Age (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55+	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	7.4% 10	9.7% 15	2.9% 6	4.3% 9	2.7% 9	0	4.7% 49
Mostly favorable	36.8% 50	27.1% 42	38.2% 79	32.4% 68	20.7% 69	6	29.6% 308
Mostly unfavorable	25.7% 35	25.2% 39	18.8% 39	25.2% 53	22.5% 75	3	23.2% 241
Very unfavorable	23.5% 32	24.5% 38	29.0% 60	24.3% 51	41.4% 138	6	30.6% 319
Never heard of	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.5% 1	0.0% 0	0	0.1% 1
Can't rate	5.9% 8	12.9% 20	9.2% 19	11.4% 24	10.2% 34	1	10.1% 105
Refused	0.7% 1	0.6% 1	1.9% 4	1.9% 4	2.4% 8	1	1.7% 18
Missing	103	163	202	169	296	11	944
TOTAL	100% 136	100% 155	100% 207	100% 210	100% 333	28	1041

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Opinion of Atheists by Religious preference (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Christian	Jewish	Athst/Agno	Other	No pref	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	2.9% 25	14.3% 2	32.0% 8	18.8% 6	8.0% 8	0	4.7% 49
Mostly favorable	26.9% 232	50.0% 7	60.0% 15	40.6% 13	39.0% 39	8	29.6% 306
Mostly unfavorable	25.0% 216	14.3% 2	8.0% 2	18.8% 6	15.0% 15	3	23.3% 241
Very unfavorable	35.0% 302	7.1% 1	0.0% 0	9.4% 3	16.0% 16	3	31.1% 322
Never heard of	0.1% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0	0.1% 1
Can't rate	8.9% 77	14.3% 2	0.0% 0	12.5% 4	16.0% 16	7	9.6% 99
Refused	1.3% 11	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	6.0% 6	2	1.6% 17
Missing	753	17	37	38	80	19	944
TOTAL	100% 864	100% 14	100% 25	100% 32	100% 100	42	1035

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Notes

Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002: This project investigated the public's attitudes on religion and public life. The survey was commissioned by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (www.people-press.org) and produced two reports. The first report addressed America’s struggle with religion in the post 9-11 climate. The second report examined the public’s attitudes about genetic research.