Pew, Growing Share of U.S. Adults Say Religion Is Gaining Influence in American Life:
Americans’ views about religion in public life are shifting. From February 2024 to February 2025, there was a sharp rise in the share of U.S. adults who say religion is gaining influence in American life.
While this remains a minority view, it is increasingly held by adults across several demographic groups – with gains of at least 10 percentage points among Democrats and Republicans, adults in every age category and in most large religious groups.
The new survey also finds that in recent years, a growing share of the public takes a positive view of religion’s role in society.
In a February 2024 Pew Research Center poll, 18% of U.S. adults said religion was gaining influence in American life. That was the lowest level we had seen in more than two decades.
A year later, in a February 2025 survey, 31% of U.S. adults said religion was gaining influence in American life – the highest figure we’ve seen in 15 years. …
Overall, 59% of U.S. adults express a positive view of religion’s influence on American life. Either they say that religion’s influence is growing and this is good, or they say that religion’s influence is declining and this is bad. …
The shares of Americans expressing positive views of religion in 2024 and 2025 are up significantly from 2022 and 2019. …
The rest of this report explores the following questions in detail:
