- Introduction
- Patterns
- Over Time
- Other Surveys
Religious preference (Demographic Patterns)
What is your religious preference? Is it Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, some other religion, or no religion? Results weighted by WTCOMB (General Social Survey 2014 Cross-Section and Panel Combined)
Religious preference by Age
| 18-29 | 30-44 | 45-59 | 60-74 | 75 or older | Missing | TOTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protestant | 30.3% 207 | 36.4% 375 | 47.2% 509 | 52.3% 394 | 65.8% 177 | 11 | 43.6% 1662 |
| Catholic | 22.7% 155 | 24.8% 255 | 24.5% 264 | 24.2% 182 | 24.9% 67 | 6 | 24.2% 923 |
| Jewish | 1.6% 11 | 0.7% 7 | 2.1% 23 | 2.7% 20 | 1.5% 4 | 0 | 1.7% 65 |
| None | 32.7% 223 | 26.3% 271 | 17.3% 187 | 14.2% 107 | 4.8% 13 | 4 | 21.0% 801 |
| Other | 12.7% 87 | 10.8% 111 | 8.5% 92 | 5.8% 44 | 3.0% 8 | 3 | 9.0% 342 |
| Don't know | 0.0% 0 | 0.7% 7 | 0.0% 0 | 0.0% 0 | 0.0% 0 | 0 | 0.2% 7 |
| No answer | 0.0% 0 | 0.4% 4 | 0.3% 3 | 0.8% 6 | 0.0% 0 | 4 | 0.3% 13 |
| TOTAL | 100.0% 683 | 100.0% 1030 | 100.0% 1078 | 100.0% 753 | 100.0% 269 | 28 | 3813 |
Religious preference by Worship attendance
| Less than once a year | Once a year | Several times a year | Once to three times a month | Nearly every week | Every week or more | Missing | TOTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protestant | 25.6% 326 | 34.4% 169 | 47.4% 192 | 53.6% 296 | 64.5% 109 | 61.7% 578 | 3 | 43.6% 1670 |
| Catholic | 16.9% 215 | 27.9% 137 | 32.3% 131 | 30.4% 168 | 29.0% 49 | 24.4% 229 | 0 | 24.3% 929 |
| Jewish | 1.4% 18 | 2.9% 14 | 2.7% 11 | 2.0% 11 | 0.6% 1 | 1.2% 11 | 0 | 1.7% 66 |
| None | 48.0% 610 | 22.8% 112 | 7.7% 31 | 4.0% 22 | 1.8% 3 | 2.7% 25 | 2 | 21.0% 803 |
| Other | 7.3% 93 | 11.6% 57 | 9.9% 40 | 10.0% 55 | 4.1% 7 | 9.8% 92 | 1 | 9.0% 344 |
| Don't know | 0.3% 4 | 0.2% 1 | 0.0% 0 | 0.0% 0 | 0.0% 0 | 0.0% 0 | 1 | 0.1% 5 |
| No answer | 0.5% 6 | 0.2% 1 | 0.0% 0 | 0.0% 0 | 0.0% 0 | 0.2% 2 | 7 | 0.2% 9 |
| TOTAL | 100.0% 1272 | 100.0% 491 | 100.0% 405 | 100.0% 552 | 100.0% 169 | 100.0% 937 | 14 | 3826 |
Religious preference by Political ideology
| Extremely liberal or liberal | Slightly liberal | Moderate | Slightly conservative | Conservative or extremely conservative | Missing | TOTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protestant | 28.6% 169 | 34.6% 148 | 42.2% 622 | 49.9% 260 | 61.0% 435 | 39 | 43.9% 1634 |
| Catholic | 19.3% 114 | 26.9% 115 | 25.7% 379 | 27.1% 141 | 22.7% 162 | 18 | 24.5% 911 |
| Jewish | 3.9% 23 | 1.6% 7 | 1.5% 22 | 0.6% 3 | 1.0% 7 | 2 | 1.7% 62 |
| None | 37.1% 219 | 29.2% 125 | 20.4% 301 | 13.1% 68 | 7.9% 56 | 36 | 20.6% 769 |
| Other | 9.8% 58 | 6.5% 28 | 9.6% 141 | 9.4% 49 | 7.4% 53 | 16 | 8.8% 329 |
| Don't know | 0.7% 4 | 0.2% 1 | 0.0% 0 | 0.0% 0 | 0.0% 0 | 1 | 0.1% 5 |
| No answer | 0.5% 3 | 0.9% 4 | 0.5% 8 | 0.0% 0 | 0.0% 0 | 2 | 0.4% 15 |
| TOTAL | 100.0% 590 | 100.0% 428 | 100.0% 1473 | 100.0% 521 | 100.0% 713 | 114 | 3725 |
Religious preference by Race
| White | Black | Other | TOTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protestant | 43.6% 1251 | 62.9% 354 | 16.2% 67 | 43.5% 1672 |
| Catholic | 24.8% 712 | 6.4% 36 | 43.8% 181 | 24.2% 929 |
| Jewish | 2.0% 58 | 0.5% 3 | 1.0% 4 | 1.7% 65 |
| None | 21.6% 619 | 18.3% 103 | 20.6% 85 | 21.0% 807 |
| Other | 7.4% 212 | 11.4% 64 | 16.7% 69 | 9.0% 345 |
| Don't know | 0.2% 7 | 0.0% 0 | 0.0% 0 | 0.2% 7 |
| No answer | 0.3% 8 | 0.5% 3 | 1.7% 7 | 0.5% 18 |
| TOTAL | 100.0% 2867 | 100.0% 563 | 100.0% 413 | 3843 |
Religious preference by Sex
| Male | Female | TOTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protestant | 39.6% 699 | 46.8% 974 | 43.5% 1673 |
| Catholic | 24.2% 427 | 24.1% 502 | 24.2% 929 |
| Jewish | 1.9% 33 | 1.5% 32 | 1.7% 65 |
| None | 24.8% 437 | 17.7% 369 | 21.0% 806 |
| Other | 8.7% 154 | 9.2% 192 | 9.0% 346 |
| Don't know | 0.2% 4 | 0.1% 3 | 0.2% 7 |
| No answer | 0.6% 10 | 0.3% 7 | 0.4% 17 |
| TOTAL | 100.0% 1764 | 100.0% 2079 | 3843 |
Notes
The General Social Surveys (GSS) have been conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) annually since 1972, except for the years 1979, 1981, and 1992 (a supplement was added in 1992), and biennially beginning in 1994. The GSS are designed to be part of a program of social indicator research, replicating questionnaire items and wording in order to facilitate time-trend studies. This data file has all cases and variables asked on the 2014 GSS. There are a total of 3,842 cases in the data set but their initial sampling years vary because the GSS now contains panel cases. Sampling years can be identified with the variable SAMPTYPE.
