Sharp Partisanship Over Religion in America

DonkeyHotey is licensed under CC BY 2.0
DonkeyHotey is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Democrats and Republicans differ sharply in their views.

A Pew Research Center survey discovered a strident partisan outlook on a number of national institutions like labor unions, higher education, religious organizations and the media. Even though 55 percent of the polled public continues to believe that universities and colleges impart a positive effect on the state of the nation, GOP supporters express a more negative outlook.

Sharp Partisanship Over Religion in America[/tweetthis]

Pew conducted a national survey in which they asked questions to 2,504 adults. The survey discovered that 85 percent of the GOP supporters believe national media has bad effects on the society. However, only 46 percent of the polled respondents who are Democrats hold identical opinions. The error margin is about 2.3 percentage points applicable for total sample.

About 58 percent of the polled GOP supporters express the view that universities and colleges lead to a negative effect on the United States. This is an increase from the 45 percent with the same views in 2016. In contrast, about 72 percent of Democrats and Democratic sympathizers hold the opinion that universities and colleges impart a positive effect. This has not much changed from the recent years.

When it came to religion, about 36 percent of the polled Democrats regarded the impact of the church on society as a negative one. Only 14 percent of Republicans believe religion pushes negative elements into society. The difference is even starker for liberal Democrats. About 44 percent see the influence of Church as a negative force in society. Only 40 percent of liberal Democrats believe churches are a positive influence in society. Overall, approximately 50 percent of the Democrats regard the church as a positive influence.

Wide partisan differences over the impact of major institutions on the country

As for Republicans, a majority of both committed GOP members and people leaning towards the Republican Party along with the liberal and moderate Republicans believe that the religious organizations and churches influence the society positively. About 75 percent of conservative Republicans and 68 percent of the liberal ones believe in religion playing a beneficial role. Pew discovered that around 46 percent of the people who are not affiliated with any kind of religion and about 43 percent who have never attended any religious services constitute a negative impact on society.

On the topic of abortions, evangelical Protestants displayed more aggressive opposition compared to mainline Protestants. About 70 percent of evangelical Protestants want abortion to be made illegal.

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