Americans’ belief in God drops to record low, poll shows

Republicans are essentially unchanged while Democrats and young people show the biggest drop

The number of Americans who say they believe in God has fallen to an all new low, according to a recent poll.

Approximately 81 per cent of Americans say they believe in God, polling company Gallup revealed on Friday, in what is the lowest figure ever figure recorded on the issue.

The result was six percentage points fewer than in 2017, when 87 per cent of Americans said they believed in God.

The study, which was conducted last month across all 50 US states and the District of Columbia, points to a continued trend in lowering faith among Americans.

Younger people and those on the left, who Gallup found were more likely to say they did not believe in God in comparison to 2013 - 2017, made up most of the change however.

“Belief in God has fallen the most in recent years among young adults and people on the left of the political spectrum (liberals and Democrats),” wrote author Jeffrey Jones.

Those who identified as Democrats showed a 12 per cent drop in their belief in God, while those aged 18 to 29 represented the second biggest drop in faith with a 10 per cent fall in belief in God since 2013 - 2017.

Gallup said the results of the 2022 survey showed that “religiosity is a major determinant of political divisions in the US”, pointing to a 92 per cent belief in God among Republicans and 94 per cent among “political conservatives”.

Responders who identified as being on the right of the political divide were essentially unchanged in their belief in God, according to Gallup. More than half of this group (54 per cent) also thought God listened to their prayers and intervened, in comparison to 32 per cent of Democrats who believed in God.

As a country, Americans have shown high levels of faith in God for decades with 2011 and 2013 marking the beginnings of a decline. Many countries in western Europe have far lower levels of belief in God, in comparison, with a Pew Research Center study in 2019 finding belief in God in the Germany at 60 per cent, the UK at 58 per cent, and France at 56 per cent.