A new survey released Friday from Gallup revealed that a record low number of Americans report a belief in God.
The polling firm found that only 81% of Americans say they believe in God, which is the lowest amount since the group started asking the question back in 1944. This is down six points from 2013-2017, when 87% of Americans said they believed in God.
“Fewer Americans today than five years ago believe in God, and the percentage is down even more from the 1950s and 1960s when almost all Americans did. Still, the vast majority of Americans believe in God, whether that means they believe a higher power hears prayers and can intervene or not,” Gallup noted.
The organization also found differences in demographics between those who believe in God and those who do not. The survey found that liberals and Democrats saw the biggest drop in belief in God. Looking at the difference from 2022 to the average from 2013-2017, there was a ten point drop for liberals and Democrats.
For conservatives and those who are married, Gallup found “essentially no change” in their views of God.
According to the new poll, only 72% of Democrats believe in God compared to 92% of Republicans. While 94% of conservatives believe in God, only 62% of liberals and 68% of young people do.
Those who were married, as well as those without college degrees, were more likely to believe in God than those who were not married or with college degrees.
Looking by region, the South was the highest with 86% professing belief in God, though that number had dropped seven points since 2013-2017 when it stood at 93%. The region least likely to believe in God was the East.
Among those who believe in God, roughly half believe that God can intervene after hearing someone’s prayer.
“About half of those who believe in God — equal to 42% of all Americans — say God hears prayers and can intervene on a person’s behalf. Meanwhile, 28% of all Americans say God hears prayers but cannot intervene, while 11% think God does neither,” Gallup explained.
The decline in belief in God also comes as Americans have generally become less religious in recent years, and church attendance has also fallen.
For example, another Gallup report put out in December showed that from roughly 2010 to 2020, those who said that they had been to church in the past week fell from 40% to 29%. The report showed a peak in the 1950s and 1960s, when nearly half of those surveyed said that they had been to church in the last week.