Religion remains intertwined with political self-identification.Religiosity continued in 2016 to significantly correlate with partisan identification. Slightly more than half of Republicans this year are “highly religious,” based on a combination of their self-reported religious service attendance and the importance of religion in their daily life. That compares with a third of independents and Democrats who say the same. By contrast, 20% of Republicans are not religious, compared with 37% of the two other political groups.
Political Party Identification Within Partisan Groups in the U.S.: 2016
Republicans Independents Democrats % % % Highly religious 51 33 33 Moderately religious 29 30 30 Not religious 20 37 37 Based on 173,229 interviews conducted Jan. 2-Dec. 19, 2016 GALLUP Gallup began tracking religiosity on a continual basis in 2008, and although overall religiosity is down across all political groups since then, it remains much higher among Republicans than among the other two political groups.
The connection between religion and politics manifested itself in the presidential election this fall. Exit poll data showed that among those who reported attending religious services weekly, 55% voted for Donald Trump and 41% voted for Hillary Clinton. Among those who never attend religious services, 62% voted for Clinton and 30% voted for Trump.
Via Gallup