Public opinion watch: How religious people perceived by US political parties' supporters

From the Gallup organization. September 7, 2006:

(Note from Denyse: Less than a third of Democrats and leaners perceive evangelical Christians positively. This gap in favourable opinion probably impacts how people interpret statements made re the ID controversy.

For example, some people will interpret "I believe that the universe shows detectible evidence of intelligent design" as "I want to start a theocracy and jail gays." Why? Because the hearer's opinion of the speaker is so negative that the hearer "hears" things that were not said, desired, or perhaps even imagined. - d. )

Partisan Differences

The table below displays the percent of Republicans (including independents who lean to the Republican party) and Democrats (including leaners) who have a positive opinion of each of the ten groups:

Positive Evaluations of Religions/Spiritual Groups by Party Affiliation Aug. 28-31, 2006

Republicans Including Leaners% Democrats Including Leaners% Republican Minus Democratic Gap


Jews 70 51 +19

Catholics 68 51 +17

Methodists 67 51 +16

Baptists 70 47 +23

LDS/Mormons 34 26 +8

Muslims 27 27 0

Evangelical Christians
63 31 +32

Fundamentalist Christians
50 24 +26

Atheists 9 20 -11

Scientologists 9 11 -2


From Gallup: "It is clear that for the most part, Republicans report more positive images of these religious groups than do Democrats. The differences are particularly large for Evangelical Christians, Fundamentalist Christians, and Baptists, but are also evident for such groups as Catholics and Jews.

Democrats and Republicans are essentially equally likely to have positive opinions of Muslims and Scientologists. Democrats are somewhat more likely than Republicans to have a positive opinion of atheists, although neither group rates atheists that positively.

Note: View a summary of recent polls of US public opinion on the ID controversy.


Read more here but you have to register.

If you like this blog, check out my book on the intelligent design controversy, By Design or by Chance?. You can read excerpts as well.

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