Advertisement · 728 × 90

Posts by Greg Smith

I found this analysis from The Pillar, about trends in Catholic conversions, to be quite informative.

www.pillarcatholic.com/p/americas-n...

2 weeks ago 0 1 0 0
Preview
About 9% of U.S. births in 2023 were to unauthorized or temporary legal immigrant mothers | Pew Research Center Generally, the trends in births to unauthorized immigrants follow the growth and decline of the unauthorized immigrant population.

About 9% of U.S. births in 2023 were to unauthorized or temporary legal immigrant mothers

2 weeks ago 13 4 0 0

While I don't doubt the dioceses are reporting accurate numbers, the data don’t actually show a huge surge of converts on a national level. According to @pewresearch.org's Religious Landscape Study, gains with Protestant converts are offset by disaffiliation of any religion.

3 weeks ago 8 4 2 0

Update: Today, opt-in online pollster YouGov revealed that bogus respondents biased their 2024 religion survey. Based on this survey, Bible Society's 2025 The Quiet Revival report claimed a massive surge of churchgoing in England and Wales. The report has now been retracted.

3 weeks ago 83 39 2 5
Chart showing about 6 in 10 disapprove of Trump’s handling of Iran conflict; as many say decision to use force was wrong.

Chart showing about 6 in 10 disapprove of Trump’s handling of Iran conflict; as many say decision to use force was wrong.

Americans Broadly Disapprove of U.S. Military Action in Iran: www.pewresearch.org/...

3 weeks ago 33 18 0 2
Preview
Confidence in Trump Dips, and Fewer Now Say They Support His Policies and Plans Only 27% of Americans say they support all or most of Trump's policies – down since last year, with the change coming entirely among Republicans.

also from us:

compared with beginning of his second term, fewer republicans say they agree with all or most of trumps agenda

www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/01/29/conf...

2 months ago 5 4 1 0
Post image

Is there a new embrace of religion among the young? News reports have found examples of flourishing young congregations. But Pew national polls find stability over last 5 years and some decline among the young. Some perspective. charlesatpollsandvotes.substack.com/p/religion-a...

4 months ago 4 3 0 0
Post image

At the same time, today's youngest adults are at least as religious - if not moreso - than the second youngest adults.

But this isn't the first time we've seen this pattern, with young people entering adulthood just as religious as their predecessors before gradually diverging.

pewrsr.ch/4pKHIC7

4 months ago 0 0 0 0
Post image

Our new study takes a close look at religion among young adults. It shows that young adults in the U.S. today

1) Are less religious than older people
2) Are less religious than young people were a decade ago
3) Have not become more religious in recent years

pewrsr.ch/4pKHIC7

4 months ago 9 5 3 1
Post image

New report takes a fresh look at religion trends in the U.S. In 2025 data, key measures of religiousness continue to hold steady:

pewrsr.ch/4pKHIC7

4 months ago 7 4 1 0
Advertisement
Post image

Hi! BLACK AND CATHOLIC is available from @undpress.bsky.social or your favorite retailer!

4 months ago 7 2 0 0
Preview
Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society and sports Today, 43% of U.S. adults say the fact that sports betting is now legal in much of the country is a bad thing for society, up from 34% in 2022.

% of US men under 30 who say legal sports betting is a *bad thing* for society

22% in 2022
47% in 2025

No other demographic group has seen a bigger increase.

6 months ago 3700 800 171 405
Post image

U.S. Catholics are still getting to know Pope Leo XIV. But they like what they've seen so far.

pewrsr.ch/46j5YDo

7 months ago 2 0 0 1
In an experiment, Pew Research Center demonstrated that opt-in and probability-based surveys produced very different results about young adults' views of the Holocaust and abortion.

In an experiment, Pew Research Center demonstrated that opt-in and probability-based surveys produced very different results about young adults' views of the Holocaust and abortion.

Remember, if you encounter what seems like an implausible survey finding, ask:
1. Were survey respondents selected randomly or was this an opt-in poll?
2. Could the results, especially for young adults, be driven by bogus respondents?

Keep this post in mind: www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/... 🧪

7 months ago 259 114 6 5
Post image

Core measures of religiousness, by decade born

From @pewresearch.org's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study

Read more: pewrsr.ch/3EXnfrS

7 months ago 14 7 1 0
Preview
What the data says about immigrants in the U.S. As of June 2025, the country’s foreign-born population had shrunk by more than a million people, marking its first decline since the 1960s.

The U.S. immigrant population grew at a record-breaking pace throughout the past few years but has shrunk since January, marking its first decline since the 1960s.

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

8 months ago 8 5 0 1
Bar chart showing that in a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, 77% of U.S. adults said churches and other houses of worship should not come out in favor of one political candidate over another.

Bar chart showing that in a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, 77% of U.S. adults said churches and other houses of worship should not come out in favor of one political candidate over another.

With the IRS planning to let churches endorse political candidates, past surveys show that a majority of Americans oppose the idea. In 2022, 77% of US adults – including 84% of Democrats and 70% of Republicans – said churches shouldn't endorse candidates. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

9 months ago 18 6 1 0
Does the CES accurately reflect America’s religious landscape? – Cooperative Election Study Blog

it's been 10 years since the last @pewresearch.org Religious Landscape Study, but the release of a new study gave Caroline Soler a chance to see how the CES stacked up against this benchmark. overall, the surveys produce very similar portraits of religion in America!
sites.tufts.edu/cooperativee...

10 months ago 5 2 0 0

New @pewresearch.org report takes a deep look at Catholic life in U.S. It finds

20% of U.S. adults are Catholic (religiously speaking)
9% are "cultural Catholics"
9% are former Catholics
9% are connected to Catholicism in other ways (through spouse, parent, etc.)

Much more: pewrsr.ch/4eaMtk2

10 months ago 28 12 3 1
The Bible Society recently published a report claiming that church attendance in England and Wales increased by more than half between 2018 and 2024. The revival was especially striking among young men, with reported church attendance jumping from 4% to 21% over this short period.

As a quantitative social scientist who has studied religious change in modern societies for more than 25 years, I’m surprised – and sceptical. I do not doubt that the Bible Society acted in good faith, but they haven’t engaged with the mountain of evidence, some of it very recent, pointing to religious decline.

The annual British Social Attitudes survey – widely regarded as the best and most reliable source of data on such matters – shows that the share of adults in England and Wales who said that they were Christian and went to church at least monthly fell by nearly a quarter (from 12.2% to 9.3%) between 2018 and 2023, the last year available. The Bible Society surveys suggest that churchgoers were 8% of the adult population in 2018 and 12% in 2024.

The main Christian denominations (Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist) conduct and publish their own attendance counts every year. Those show that while churchgoing continues to rebound from the lows of the COVID lockdown, attendance at worship services remains substantially lower than it was in 2019, before the pandemic. In the Church of England, average weekly attendance is down about 20% from pre-pandemic levels, and the story is similar in other denominations.

The Bible Society recently published a report claiming that church attendance in England and Wales increased by more than half between 2018 and 2024. The revival was especially striking among young men, with reported church attendance jumping from 4% to 21% over this short period. As a quantitative social scientist who has studied religious change in modern societies for more than 25 years, I’m surprised – and sceptical. I do not doubt that the Bible Society acted in good faith, but they haven’t engaged with the mountain of evidence, some of it very recent, pointing to religious decline. The annual British Social Attitudes survey – widely regarded as the best and most reliable source of data on such matters – shows that the share of adults in England and Wales who said that they were Christian and went to church at least monthly fell by nearly a quarter (from 12.2% to 9.3%) between 2018 and 2023, the last year available. The Bible Society surveys suggest that churchgoers were 8% of the adult population in 2018 and 12% in 2024. The main Christian denominations (Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist) conduct and publish their own attendance counts every year. Those show that while churchgoing continues to rebound from the lows of the COVID lockdown, attendance at worship services remains substantially lower than it was in 2019, before the pandemic. In the Church of England, average weekly attendance is down about 20% from pre-pandemic levels, and the story is similar in other denominations.

What could be the problem with the data?
Gold standard social surveys are based on random (probability) samples of the population: everyone has a chance to be included. The British Social Attitudes survey is one such example – and found that churchgoing fell by nearly a quarter from 2018-23.

By contrast, people opt in to YouGov’s survey panel and are rewarded after completing a certain number of surveys. The risk of low-quality or even bogus responses is considerable.

YouGov creates a quota sample from its large self-selected panel. The sample will match the population on a number of key characteristics, such as age and sex, but that does not make it representative in all respects. As quota samples do not give each person in the population a known chance of being selected, statistical inference is not possible and findings cannot be reliably generalised.

To write (as in the Bible Society report) that because thousands of people participated in the two surveys, they “give a 1% margin of error at a 99% confidence level” is misleading.

This study is not the first time such non-probability sampling has led to dubious findings. In late 2023, the Economist ran the story that one in five young Americans believed that the Holocaust was a myth, based on another YouGov poll. A study by the Pew Research Center showed that that finding was almost certainly fallacious, and the Economist added a disclaimer acknowledging the problem.

What could be the problem with the data? Gold standard social surveys are based on random (probability) samples of the population: everyone has a chance to be included. The British Social Attitudes survey is one such example – and found that churchgoing fell by nearly a quarter from 2018-23. By contrast, people opt in to YouGov’s survey panel and are rewarded after completing a certain number of surveys. The risk of low-quality or even bogus responses is considerable. YouGov creates a quota sample from its large self-selected panel. The sample will match the population on a number of key characteristics, such as age and sex, but that does not make it representative in all respects. As quota samples do not give each person in the population a known chance of being selected, statistical inference is not possible and findings cannot be reliably generalised. To write (as in the Bible Society report) that because thousands of people participated in the two surveys, they “give a 1% margin of error at a 99% confidence level” is misleading. This study is not the first time such non-probability sampling has led to dubious findings. In late 2023, the Economist ran the story that one in five young Americans believed that the Holocaust was a myth, based on another YouGov poll. A study by the Pew Research Center showed that that finding was almost certainly fallacious, and the Economist added a disclaimer acknowledging the problem.

England is experiencing a churchgoing revival, according to a recent report based on nonprobability polls.

David Voas is skeptical. He explains that probability-based survey data doesn't point to a revival. Nor does data from Christian denominations.
theconversation.com/is-there-rea...

10 months ago 47 12 5 7
Advertisement

Hi Sam, is there something particular you need? We do our best to make our data publicly available while also doing our best to protect respondent privacy!

10 months ago 2 0 0 0

Today at noon! @sssreligion.bsky.social is hosting a webinar on "From Francis to Leo XIV: Looking into a Post "Who Am I to Judge?" Catholic Church" feat. 2024 Student Paper Award winner Fr. Lucas Sharma S.J. w/ Tia Noelle Pratt & Tricia Bruce, moderated by Ariela Keysar.

10 months ago 3 2 1 0

Come work with me!

10 months ago 4 5 0 0
Preview
The Experiences of LGBTQ Americans Today How lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer adults view the impact of Obergefell and social acceptance for LGBTQ people more broadly 10 years after the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex...

Today we released a major @pewresearch.org survey of LGBTQ adults looking at:

▶️ Views of social acceptance for LGBTQ people
▶️ Personal experiences with acceptance, discrimination
▶️ Experiences with coming out
▶️ Identity
▶️ Community, friends and LGBTQ spaces

Read on for findings from each section.

10 months ago 47 28 1 6
Post image

Interested in trends in the makeup of the US Catholic population?

20% of U.S. adults are Catholic, a figure that's been stable for years.

A growing share are Latinos, and upwards of 4-in-10 Catholics are immigrants or the children of immigrants.

Much more from @pewresearch.org pewrsr.ch/3VRqirS

11 months ago 3 0 0 0
Preview
Americans’ Trust in One Another Americans trust each other less than they did a few decades ago. We explore why this is, and why some are more trusting than others.

We took a broad look at social trust in America today. With a survey of almost 37,000 people we were able to look at levels of trust across the states and even in metro areas. Check out our new report here www.pewresearch.org/SocialTrust

11 months ago 16 13 1 2
Post image

New @pewresearch.org

60% of US Catholics say the Church should be more inclusive even if that means changing some teachings. 37% say Church should stick to traditional teachings even if gets smaller.

Big differences on this & other questions by Mass attendance.

Much more pewrsr.ch/44AA8mv

11 months ago 18 6 4 2
Preview
White evangelicals continue to stand out in their support for Trump Most White evangelicals (72%) say they approve of how Trump is doing as president. Other religious groups are more divided or disapprove.

NEW: White evangelicals continue to stand out in their support for Trump, including 72% who approve of the way Trump is currently handling his job as president.

Here's how White evangelicals and other major U.S. religious groups view the second Trump administration.
pewrsr.ch/42L6bNS

11 months ago 3 4 1 2
Faith Angle Forum: A New US Religious Landscape
Faith Angle Forum: A New US Religious Landscape YouTube video by The Aspen Institute

You can watch Alan Cooperman of @pewresearch.org ‘s opening presentation at Faith Angle Miami here youtu.be/yYM75CDZ4m0?...

11 months ago 1 1 0 0
Post image

Our recent post includes our latest info on the size of the U.S. Catholic population and data about their demographics, beliefs and practices.

One interesting finding - more than four-in-ten U.S. Catholics are immigrants (29%) or the children of immigrants (14%).

Much more here: pewrsr.ch/3VRqirS

11 months ago 3 2 0 0
Advertisement