Opinion of Non-Religious People

• Introduction
• Patterns

Opinion of Non-Religious People (Demographic Patterns)

Thinking about specific religious groups, what is your overall opinion of: people who are not religious?

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Opinion of Non-Religious People by Gender (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Male	Female	TOTAL
Very favorable	8.9% 38	8.9% 46	8.9% 84
Mostly favorable	47.1% 200	40.3% 209	43.3% 409
Mostly unfavorable	19.3% 82	18.3% 95	18.8% 177
Very unfavorable	6.1% 26	12.5% 65	9.6% 91
Never heard of	0.0% 0	0.4% 2	0.2% 2
Can't rate	13.6% 58	14.8% 77	14.3% 135
Refused	4.9% 21	4.8% 25	4.9% 46
Missing	497	561	1058
TOTAL	100% 425	100% 519	944

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Opinion of Non-Religious People by Political party (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Republican	Democrat	No pref	Oth party	DK/Refused	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	5.5% 16	8.2% 23	14.1% 9	0.0% 0	16.0% 4	32	7.8% 52
Mostly favorable	44.0% 129	45.4% 127	26.6% 17	100.0% 1	12.0% 3	132	41.8% 277
Mostly unfavorable	25.6% 75	17.5% 49	10.9% 7	0.0% 0	16.0% 4	42	20.4% 135
Very unfavorable	8.9% 26	9.3% 26	20.3% 13	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	26	9.8% 65
Never heard of	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	2	0.0% 0
Can't rate	10.9% 32	14.3% 40	23.4% 15	0.0% 0	32.0% 8	40	14.3% 95
Refused	5.1% 15	5.4% 15	4.7% 3	0.0% 0	24.0% 6	7	5.9% 39
Missing	360	314	57	3	29	295	1058
TOTAL	100% 293	100% 280	100% 64	100% 1	100% 25	576	663

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Opinion of Non-Religious People 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	7.8% 13	6.1% 6	11.1% 23	5.4% 8	9.4% 17	17	8.4% 67
Mostly favorable	31.7% 53	44.4% 44	45.9% 95	51.0% 75	54.1% 98	44	45.6% 365
Mostly unfavorable	22.2% 37	22.2% 22	14.0% 29	19.7% 29	15.5% 28	32	18.1% 145
Very unfavorable	16.8% 28	9.1% 9	6.8% 14	8.2% 12	8.3% 15	13	9.7% 78
Never heard of	0.6% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	1	0.1% 1
Can't rate	15.0% 25	15.2% 15	19.8% 41	10.2% 15	8.8% 16	23	14.0% 112
Refused	6.0% 10	3.0% 3	2.4% 5	5.4% 8	3.9% 7	13	4.1% 33
Missing	145	136	234	170	214	159	1058
TOTAL	100% 167	100% 99	100% 207	100% 147	100% 181	302	801

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Opinion of Non-Religious People by Education (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Less than high school	High school graduate	Some college	College +	Refused	TOTAL
Very favorable	8.6% 8	9.3% 28	7.9% 18	9.2% 29	25.0% 1	8.9% 84
Mostly favorable	34.4% 32	38.4% 116	44.1% 101	50.3% 159	25.0% 1	43.3% 409
Mostly unfavorable	14.0% 13	20.2% 61	22.3% 51	16.5% 52	0.0% 0	18.8% 177
Very unfavorable	15.1% 14	12.3% 37	8.3% 19	6.6% 21	0.0% 0	9.6% 91
Never heard of	1.1% 1	0.0% 0	0.4% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.2% 2
Can't rate	22.6% 21	14.9% 45	14.4% 33	10.8% 34	50.0% 2	14.3% 135
Refused	4.3% 4	5.0% 15	2.6% 6	6.6% 21	0.0% 0	4.9% 46
Missing	90	344	296	324	4	1058
TOTAL	100% 93	100% 302	100% 229	100% 316	100% 4	944

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Opinion of Non-Religious People by Marital status (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Married	Divorced	Separated	Widowed	Never been married	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	7.9% 39	12.7% 15	11.5% 3	3.3% 3	11.1% 23	1	8.8% 83
Mostly favorable	44.4% 220	39.0% 46	38.5% 10	28.3% 26	50.7% 105	2	43.4% 407
Mostly unfavorable	20.0% 99	20.3% 24	7.7% 2	27.2% 25	12.6% 26	1	18.8% 176
Very unfavorable	9.3% 46	10.2% 12	15.4% 4	18.5% 17	5.8% 12	0	9.7% 91
Never heard of	0.2% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.5% 1	0	0.2% 2
Can't rate	14.1% 70	11.9% 14	23.1% 6	15.2% 14	14.5% 30	1	14.3% 134
Refused	4.0% 20	5.9% 7	3.8% 1	7.6% 7	4.8% 10	1	4.8% 45
Missing	557	159	23	86	227	6	1058
TOTAL	100% 495	100% 118	100% 26	100% 92	100% 207	12	938

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Opinion of Non-Religious People by Age (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55+	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	12.6% 13	9.8% 16	9.4% 19	6.5% 11	7.8% 23	2	8.8% 82
Mostly favorable	47.6% 49	49.7% 81	44.6% 90	48.5% 82	35.5% 105	2	43.6% 407
Mostly unfavorable	13.6% 14	18.4% 30	17.3% 35	17.2% 29	22.3% 66	3	18.6% 174
Very unfavorable	9.7% 10	9.8% 16	8.4% 17	9.5% 16	10.5% 31	1	9.6% 90
Never heard of	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.5% 1	0.0% 0	0.3% 1	0	0.2% 2
Can't rate	11.7% 12	9.8% 16	16.8% 34	15.4% 26	15.2% 45	2	14.3% 133
Refused	4.9% 5	2.5% 4	3.0% 6	3.0% 5	8.4% 25	1	4.8% 45
Missing	136	155	207	210	333	17	1058
TOTAL	100% 103	100% 163	100% 202	100% 169	100% 296	28	933

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Opinion of Non-Religious People by Religious preference (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Christian	Jewish	Athst/Agno	Other	No pref	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	7.0% 53	23.5% 4	24.3% 9	18.4% 7	13.8% 11	0	9.1% 84
Mostly favorable	40.9% 308	41.2% 7	54.1% 20	55.3% 21	58.8% 47	6	43.6% 403
Mostly unfavorable	21.9% 165	5.9% 1	2.7% 1	7.9% 3	5.0% 4	3	18.8% 174
Very unfavorable	11.2% 84	5.9% 1	0.0% 0	5.3% 2	3.8% 3	1	9.7% 90
Never heard of	0.3% 2	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0	0.2% 2
Can't rate	14.5% 109	5.9% 1	16.2% 6	10.5% 4	13.8% 11	4	14.2% 131
Refused	4.2% 32	17.6% 3	2.7% 1	2.6% 1	5.0% 4	5	4.4% 41
Missing	864	14	25	32	100	23	1058
TOTAL	100% 753	100% 17	100% 37	100% 38	100% 80	42	925

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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.