Desire to be closer to God (Demographic Patterns)

You may experience the following in your daily life, if so how often? I desire to be closer to God or in union with Him. . Results weighted by WT2004 (General Social Survey, 2004)

Desire to be closer to God by Sex

	MALE	FEMALE	TOTAL
MANY A DAY	14.1% 81	21.0% 128	17.6% 209
EVERY DAY	30.4% 175	36.6% 223	33.6% 398
MOST DAYS	13.0% 75	14.1% 86	13.6% 161
SOME DAYS	16.5% 95	11.0% 67	13.7% 162
ONCE WHILE	11.6% 67	8.7% 53	10.1% 120
NEVER	11.8% 68	7.2% 44	9.5% 112
DON’T KNOW	1.6% 9	0.2% 1	0.8% 10
NO ANSWER	1.0% 6	1.1% 7	1.1% 13
Missing	608	732	1340
TOTAL	100.0% 576	100.0% 609	1185

Desire to be closer to God by Race

	WHITE	BLACK	OTHER	TOTAL
MANY A DAY	15.4% 145	31.1% 38	21.7% 26	17.6% 209
EVERY DAY	33.6% 317	40.2% 49	26.7% 32	33.6% 398
MOST DAYS	13.5% 127	9.8% 12	18.3% 22	13.6% 161
SOME DAYS	14.0% 132	11.5% 14	13.3% 16	13.7% 162
ONCE WHILE	11.2% 106	2.5% 3	9.2% 11	10.1% 120
NEVER	10.5% 99	1.6% 2	9.2% 11	9.5% 112
DON’T KNOW	0.8% 8	0.8% 1	0.8% 1	0.8% 10
NO ANSWER	1.0% 9	2.5% 3	0.8% 1	1.1% 13
Missing	1079	157	104	1340
TOTAL	100.0% 943	100.0% 122	100.0% 120	1185

Desire to be closer to God by Religion

	PROTESTANT	CATHOLIC	OTHER	NONE	Missing	TOTAL
MANY A DAY	20.7% 128	12.6% 38	26.2% 27	10.0% 16	0	17.7% 209
EVERY DAY	40.0% 247	34.4% 104	23.3% 24	14.4% 23	0	33.6% 398
MOST DAYS	12.0% 74	18.2% 55	11.7% 12	12.5% 20	0	13.6% 161
SOME DAYS	14.1% 87	17.2% 52	9.7% 10	8.1% 13	0	13.7% 162
ONCE WHILE	7.8% 48	11.3% 34	10.7% 11	16.9% 27	0	10.1% 120
NEVER	3.9% 24	4.3% 13	14.6% 15	36.9% 59	1	9.4% 111
DON’T KNOW	0.5% 3	1.3% 4	1.9% 2	0.6% 1	0	0.8% 10
NO ANSWER	1.1% 7	0.7% 2	1.9% 2	0.6% 1	1	1.0% 12
Missing	672	332	148	178	0	1330
TOTAL	100.0% 618	100.0% 302	100.0% 103	100.0% 160	2	1183

Desire to be closer to God by Age

	18-30	31-44	45-64	65+	Missing	TOTAL
MANY A DAY	17.9% 52	21.1% 75	14.4% 57	18.1% 25	0	17.7% 209
EVERY DAY	26.8% 78	32.3% 115	36.5% 144	44.2% 61	0	33.7% 398
MOST DAYS	15.1% 44	14.9% 53	13.4% 53	8.0% 11	0	13.6% 161
SOME DAYS	18.2% 53	12.4% 44	13.7% 54	6.5% 9	2	13.6% 160
ONCE WHILE	12.0% 35	8.1% 29	10.1% 40	11.6% 16	0	10.2% 120
NEVER	9.3% 27	9.0% 32	9.6% 38	9.4% 13	2	9.3% 110
DON’T KNOW	0.0% 0	1.7% 6	1.0% 4	0.0% 0	0	0.8% 10
NO ANSWER	0.7% 2	0.6% 2	1.3% 5	2.2% 3	1	1.0% 12
Missing	307	378	497	152	0	1334
TOTAL	100.0% 291	100.0% 356	100.0% 395	100.0% 138	5	1180

Desire to be closer to God by Church attendance

	NEVER	< 1 A MNTH	< 1 A WEEK	WEEKLY +	Missing	TOTAL
MANY A DAY	6.9% 12	8.4% 33	18.5% 51	33.3% 113	0	17.7% 209
EVERY DAY	22.4% 39	22.3% 88	40.2% 111	47.2% 160	0	33.6% 398
MOST DAYS	8.0% 14	15.0% 59	18.1% 50	11.2% 38	0	13.6% 161
SOME DAYS	9.8% 17	23.4% 92	13.0% 36	5.0% 17	0	13.7% 162
ONCE WHILE	17.2% 30	18.8% 74	4.3% 12	1.2% 4	0	10.1% 120
NEVER	33.9% 59	9.9% 39	4.0% 11	0.9% 3	0	9.5% 112
DON’T KNOW	0.6% 1	1.3% 5	1.4% 4	0.0% 0	0	0.8% 10
NO ANSWER	1.1% 2	1.0% 4	0.4% 1	1.2% 4	2	0.9% 11
Missing	190	486	286	369	0	1331
TOTAL	100.0% 174	100.0% 394	100.0% 276	100.0% 339	2	1183

Desire to be closer to God by Political ideology

	LIBERAL	MODERATE	CONSERV	Missing	TOTAL
MANY A DAY	16.5% 46	17.6% 75	17.8% 81	7	17.4% 202
EVERY DAY	29.7% 83	31.5% 134	38.5% 175	6	33.8% 392
MOST DAYS	11.5% 32	14.8% 63	14.1% 64	2	13.7% 159
SOME DAYS	11.8% 33	13.4% 57	15.2% 69	3	13.7% 159
ONCE WHILE	13.6% 38	11.3% 48	7.0% 32	2	10.2% 118
NEVER	15.8% 44	9.9% 42	5.3% 24	2	9.5% 110
DON’T KNOW	0.7% 2	0.7% 3	0.9% 4	1	0.8% 9
NO ANSWER	0.4% 1	0.9% 4	1.3% 6	2	0.9% 11
TOTAL	100.0% 279	100.0% 426	100.0% 455	25	1160

Desire to be closer to God by Education

	LESS HS	HS DEGREE	JR COLL	BA DEGREE	GRAD DEGRE	Missing	TOTAL
MANY A DAY	20.0% 27	18.2% 114	20.2% 18	15.7% 33	13.1% 16	1	17.6% 208
EVERY DAY	41.5% 56	35.4% 222	38.2% 34	25.2% 53	27.0% 33	0	33.6% 398
MOST DAYS	13.3% 18	14.2% 89	14.6% 13	12.9% 27	11.5% 14	0	13.6% 161
SOME DAYS	10.4% 14	15.1% 95	9.0% 8	12.4% 26	15.6% 19	0	13.7% 162
ONCE WHILE	8.1% 11	8.3% 52	5.6% 5	17.1% 36	13.1% 16	0	10.1% 120
NEVER	5.9% 8	7.2% 45	10.1% 9	12.9% 27	18.9% 23	0	9.5% 112
DON’T KNOW	0.0% 0	1.0% 6	0.0% 0	1.4% 3	0.8% 1	0	0.8% 10
NO ANSWER	0.7% 1	0.8% 5	2.2% 2	2.4% 5	0.0% 0	0	1.1% 13
Missing	148	658	106	291	137	0	1340
TOTAL	100.0% 135	100.0% 628	100.0% 89	100.0% 210	100.0% 122	1	1184

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.