How important is being a Christian? (Demographic Patterns)

Some people say the following things are important for being truly American. Others say they are not important. How important do you think each of the following is... E. To be a Christian . Results weighted by WT2004 (General Social Survey, 2004)

How important is being a Christian? by Sex

	MALE	FEMALE	TOTAL
VERY IMP.	40.8% 201	51.6% 307	46.7% 508
FAIRLY IMP	17.4% 86	16.1% 96	16.7% 182
NOT VERY	20.9% 103	13.9% 83	17.1% 186
NOT IMPOR.	17.2% 85	15.8% 94	16.5% 179
CANT CHOOS	3.7% 18	2.5% 15	3.0% 33
NO ANSWER	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0
Missing	691	746	1437
TOTAL	100.0% 493	100.0% 595	1088

How important is being a Christian? by Race

	WHITE	BLACK	OTHER	TOTAL
VERY IMP.	46.1% 405	72.0% 90	15.3% 13	46.7% 508
FAIRLY IMP	17.2% 151	5.6% 7	28.2% 24	16.7% 182
NOT VERY	17.2% 151	11.2% 14	24.7% 21	17.1% 186
NOT IMPOR.	16.6% 146	8.0% 10	27.1% 23	16.5% 179
CANT CHOOS	2.8% 25	3.2% 4	4.7% 4	3.0% 33
NO ANSWER	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0
Missing	1144	154	139	1437
TOTAL	100.0% 878	100.0% 125	100.0% 85	1088

How important is being a Christian? by Religion

	PROTESTANT	CATHOLIC	OTHER	NONE	Missing	TOTAL
VERY IMP.	60.7% 330	48.0% 134	25.2% 30	9.9% 14	0	46.9% 508
FAIRLY IMP	17.1% 93	22.6% 63	9.2% 11	10.6% 15	0	16.8% 182
NOT VERY	13.4% 73	15.1% 42	21.8% 26	31.0% 44	1	17.1% 185
NOT IMPOR.	7.4% 40	13.3% 37	39.5% 47	37.3% 53	2	16.3% 177
CANT CHOOS	1.5% 8	1.1% 3	4.2% 5	11.3% 16	1	3.0% 32
NO ANSWER	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0	0.0% 0
Missing	746	355	132	196	0	1429
TOTAL	100.0% 544	100.0% 279	100.0% 119	100.0% 142	4	1084

How important is being a Christian? by Age

	18-30	31-44	45-64	65+	Missing	TOTAL
VERY IMP.	33.0% 88	44.0% 136	51.2% 197	69.0% 87	0	46.7% 508
FAIRLY IMP	17.6% 47	18.8% 58	16.1% 62	11.9% 15	0	16.7% 182
NOT VERY	20.2% 54	20.7% 64	15.3% 59	7.1% 9	0	17.1% 186
NOT IMPOR.	24.3% 65	14.2% 44	15.3% 59	8.7% 11	0	16.5% 179
CANT CHOOS	4.9% 13	2.3% 7	2.1% 8	3.2% 4	1	2.9% 32
NO ANSWER	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0	0.0% 0
Missing	331	425	507	164	0	1427
TOTAL	100.0% 267	100.0% 309	100.0% 385	100.0% 126	1	1087

How important is being a Christian? by Church attendance

	NEVER	< 1 A MNTH	< 1 A WEEK	WEEKLY +	Missing	TOTAL
VERY IMP.	21.1% 34	29.3% 119	55.9% 127	78.3% 227	1	46.8% 507
FAIRLY IMP	12.4% 20	24.4% 99	19.4% 44	6.6% 19	0	16.8% 182
NOT VERY	26.7% 43	22.9% 93	13.2% 30	6.9% 20	0	17.2% 186
NOT IMPOR.	32.3% 52	20.0% 81	9.7% 22	7.2% 21	3	16.2% 176
CANT CHOOS	7.5% 12	3.4% 14	1.8% 4	1.0% 3	0	3.0% 33
NO ANSWER	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0	0.0% 0
Missing	203	474	335	418	0	1430
TOTAL	100.0% 161	100.0% 406	100.0% 227	100.0% 290	4	1084

How important is being a Christian? by Education

	LESS HS	HS DEGREE	JR COLL	BA DEGREE	GRAD DEGRE	TOTAL
VERY IMP.	51.5% 51	52.7% 285	51.6% 49	35.9% 88	32.4% 35	46.7% 508
FAIRLY IMP	15.2% 15	17.2% 93	20.0% 19	16.7% 41	13.0% 14	16.7% 182
NOT VERY	14.1% 14	15.2% 82	9.5% 9	25.7% 63	16.7% 18	17.1% 186
NOT IMPOR.	12.1% 12	12.8% 69	16.8% 16	19.2% 47	32.4% 35	16.5% 179
CANT CHOOS	7.1% 7	2.2% 12	2.1% 2	2.4% 6	5.6% 6	3.0% 33
NO ANSWER	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0
Missing	184	745	100	256	151	1436
TOTAL	100.0% 99	100.0% 541	100.0% 95	100.0% 245	100.0% 108	1088

Notes

General Social Survey: Since 1972, the National Opinion Research Center has conducted a nationwide survey of a random sample of U.S. citizens on a near-yearly basis—the General Social Survey (GSS). In addition to gathering detailed demographic information on respondents, the GSS gathers opinions on a wide variety of topics, such as the role of government in public life, controversial issues such as abortion, confidence in public institutions and a host of others. Of course, respondents are unlikely to spend five hours completing a survey so in order to gather data on a broad range of issues the GSS has adopted the practice of rotating groups of questions into and out of the survey in different years.