White Christians are no longer a majority of the American population
Joel Connelly November 24, 2015 seattlepi.com
The percentage of Americans who identify as white Christians has fallen to 46 percent of the country’s population, the first time ever it has been below 50 percent, according to an exhaustive survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape project.
White Christians made up 55 percent of America’s population in 2007 and nearly 70 percent as recently as 1984.
The decline has been accompanied by the rise of the “nones.” The percentage of Americans who declare no religious affiliation rose from 16 percent to 23 percent between 2007 and 2014. The percentage of Americans identifying with non-Christian faiths — Judaism, Islam and Buddhism — rose from 4.7 percent to 5.9 percent.
The change has been reflected even in the U.S. Congress, which has a Muslim member from Minnesota and three Buddhist members, one from Georgia and the other two from Hawaii.
While white Christians have declined as a percentage of America’s population, they have increased as a presence in the Republican Party. Sixty-nine percent of white Christians now identify as Republicans. The percentage is nearly the reverse among non-white Christians, with Democrats enjoying a three-to–one advantage.
The importance of white Christians is reflected in competition between 2016 presidential candidates. Ben Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have appealed to evangelicals, who make up a majority of attendees at Iowa’s Republican caucuses. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, has also identified with evangelicals, particularly in opposing abortion even in cases of rape and incest. (Rubio was raised a Catholic, spent time as a Mormon and is back as a Catholic.)
The last two winners of the Iowa caucuses — ex-Sen. Rick Santorum and ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — tailored their appeal to evangelicals. Both are running again in 2016 but have garnered little support.
When polling on the issue began in 1944, 80 percent of Americans were white Christians. The figure held firm during the country’s post-World War II boom and was just under 80 percent in 1964.
Pew interviewed a total of 35,071 people between June and the end of September in 2014.